The Future Black
by Terrorize
Summary: A young Bellatrix is sent forward in time by the spirit of her ancestor, Morgan le Fay on a cryptic mission to save the future of the House of Black. Stuck 30 years in the future, Bellatrix's only hope lays with a muggle-born called Hermione Granger. AU Story, Bellatrix/Hermione pairing.
1. Chapter 1: Black, Bellatrix Black

**A/N: **Hello all ^^ This is a little side project I'm doing when I need a break from **Even Angels Have Their Black Desires**, which is my primary Bellamione story. This one will get updated but not as regularly until **EAHTBD **is finished. This idea has been bugging me so I thought I'd get it out and see what people thought.

**Pairing:** Bellatrix/Hermione

**Rating:** M rated for future chapters.

**Timeline:** An AU set during the trio's sixth year.

**Warnings:** This fic will at some point, contain, **bad language **and **adult content**, and basically everything else you'd think of when you think of a Bellatrix centred story.

**Disclaimer:** The world of Harry Potter and the original storyline are not mine; they belong to J.K. Rowling.

Read, review and most of all… Enjoy!

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><p><strong>The Future Black<strong>

**Chapter 1: Black, Bellatrix Black**

**Bellatrix**

It was a mild September night, the corridors of Hogwarts stood dark and silent. The portraits were fast asleep and only the resident ghosts sometimes graced its passages. The girl hid in the alcove as one passed across her path, she watched it vanish into the opposite wall and kept her gaze fixed on that spot for a few moments, waiting to see if it would pass back through.

When she was pleased that the spirit was long gone, she slid back out of the shadows and carried along her way. She skipped through the corridors of the dungeon without a care in the world then began to hum to herself, caring little for the number of rules she was breaking, rules meant nothing to her, she thought herself above such restrictions.

The hairs on the back of her neck began to stand on edge, someone was following her, another student, if it had been a Professor they would have called out and stopped her. She growled lowly to herself and turned a corner where she waited with wand in hand for her follower. She didn't have to wait long and was soon upon the other student as they rounded the corner, she pushed the other pupil up hard against the wall. Lighting her wand she pressed it against their neck.

The light revealed a Slytherin girl with thick long light brown curly hair, dark yet soft eyes and pale skin. "Bella." She says softly, unthreatened by the wand at her throat.

"Andy." Bellatrix lightens her grip on her younger sister and lowers her wand. "What are you doing following me?" She snaps.

"I'm a prefect remember? I was doing my rounds when I saw you skulking about. What are you up to?" Andromeda flashes her prefect badge on her robes, which Bellatrix rolls her eyes at.

"I was talking a stroll." Bellatrix said innocently, her hand coming up and playing with a stray curl in a bored manner.

Andromeda quirks her eyebrow in suspicion. "At night after hours?"

"Best time to do it." Bellatrix cocks her head to the side and gives her sister a look with seemingly big innocent eyes. It never worked of course, Andromeda knew her sister far too well to know she was anything but innocent, but Bellatrix did it anyway, purely because it annoyed her little sister.

"We've only just got back and you're already trying to get yourself into trouble?" Andromeda sighed as her hands came to rest on her hips.

Bellatrix scoffed at the motion and turned her back on her sister, pretending to look at the portraits. "I won't be in trouble if you don't tell… And you won't, will you?" Her gaze shifted back to her sisters, giving her a hard cold glare.

"No… Of course not." Andromeda relaxed her posture, admitting defeat before the fight had even begun.

"Good… Then run along sister, I'm sure there's someone else you can bother." Bellatrix smirked and turned on her heels to leave.

"But…"

"No buts! Leave me alone with my thoughts."

Andromeda reached out and grabbed Bellatrix shoulder softly, who stiffened in response. "Bella… You're not as alone as you think, you'll always have me and Cissy. We can help-"

"No, you can't…" Bellatrix whispered over her shoulder before shedding Andromeda's hand. "Goodnight Andy, and don't follow me again." Without another word Bellatrix storms off and turns a corner, leaving Andromeda alone in the dark. '_And you're wrong… I am alone, it's better that way… For both you and Cissy.'_ Bellatrix thought as she hurried along her way, putting distance between herself and her younger sister.

Leaving the dungeons, she kept to the shadows as she made her way through the school, trying to decide what to do tonight. '_Hmm could order the kitchen elves to make me a snack then grab a book in the restricted section… Or I could break into Gryffindor tower and… Redecorate… Again.'_ A smirk graced her lips as she remembered the last lot of commotion she caused, it had taken them days to remove the Slytherin colours and they still hadn't found out what happened to all the mudblood's clothing.

She treated the school as her own private playground, reigning terror from the darkness, despite her sister's assumption, she rarely got caught causing trouble, no her housemates although terribly dim-witted, made excellent scapegoats. One of the perks of being a daughter of the _noble_ and most _ancient _house of Black was that everyone coveted her favour, they came to her with the illusion that one day she'd repay their loyal service to the Black family._ '__Fools.'_

'_On second thoughts… Not been to the lake since I've been back.'_ Finally deciding on a destination, Bellatrix took the next right and followed the corridors that would eventually lead her to the school grounds. Taking extra care she slipped out of the castle and made her way slowly across the grounds, doing well to stay in the shadows as much as possible to avoid the eyes of any professors who might chance a glance outside. It didn't take long for Bellatrix to reach the Black Lake, she walked casually along the shore until she found her favourite spot, a single tree that overlooked the water's edge with a rocky perch nearby that provided adequate seating.

Sitting on the edge of the perch, she laid back and stretched, looking up at the clear night's sky. A full moon hung in the night's sky made up of countless dark blues and blacks, there wasn't a single cloud in sight staining nature's canvas allowing all the stars to bathe her in their pure celestial glow. In the distance, coming from deep within the nearby forest, she heard the howling of the local pack of wild wolves crying out to each other.

"Awhooo!" Bellatrix cries out and smiles when they howl again in response. She stretches her arms above her before then tucking her hands behind her head and lets out a small yawn and starts to rest her eyes a little.

After a while the air starts to turn cold and Bellatrix is soon woken up as the cold nips at her skin, frowning to herself she sits up and pulls out her wand, with a small flick she casts a small heating charm around herself. Just as she lays back down she spots something moving out of the corner of her eye. '_Andy! What did I tell you?'_

Bolting back up, she looks around towards the castle… But nothing, no one is there. Blinking in confusion she surveys her surroundings but doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary, until, her eyes fall upon the edge of the Forbidden Forest. A whitish figure obscured by the trees.

Anyone else might have been afraid, or weary. But not Bellatrix's instead she was curious and more than slightly annoyed at being disturbed. She gets to her feat with her wand in hand and mutters a quick spell. "_Lumos."_

Slowly she moved towards the forest, trying to make a little sound as possible to betray her presence as she hoped to use the element of surprise on whoever or whatever was beyond the trees. As she drew closer the figure became clearer, it was a woman… Or was a woman, whoever she used to be was dead and here stood her spirit. '_The ghosts don't usual venture far from the castle… What is this one doing out here?' _Despite knowing a ghost was little threat to her, she still kept her wand high as she passed through the tree's, entering the Forbidden Forest.

"Toujours pur, my child." The spirit said without looking back at Bellatrix.

Bellatrix stiffened, frozen in place by the use of her family's motto. "How dare you use my family's motto to greet me!? Insolent spirit! And I am no child!"

"Your family?" The spirit sounded amused and chuckled softly to herself.

Scowling, Bellatrix took a step closer. "Yes! My family, I am-"

"Bellatrix Black, first of her name. Firstborn daughter to Cygnus Black the Third and Druella Black née Rosier. Yes my child, I know who you are." The spirit interrupted with an arrogant tone of voice that made Bellatrix's jaw clench.

"For the last time I am not a child!" Bellatrix spat out, unfazed by the spirit's familiarity with her, everyone knew who she was, it was common knowledge. Even the lowliest of mudbloods knew much about her, after all… She personally educated some of them in that subject.

"Oh but you are." The spirit slowly turned around, revealing what would have been a stunningly beautiful woman, who Bellatrix's couldn't help but think she looked somewhat like her. "For all Blacks are my children. I am Morgan le Fay, or more importantly, Morgana Black, founder of… Our family." Morgana stood there with an arrogant regal-like posture while a smirk played about on her lips.

Bellatrix stared intensely at Morgana, unsure if to believe the spirit or not. Sure she had a lot of the physical characteristics that ran strong in her family, but that didn't mean that the spirit in front of her was the legendary dark witch. Also as far as Bellatrix knew, there was no accurate images depicting Morgan le Fay only vague accounts, combine that with Bellatrix's untrusting nature, she was inclined not to believe her. "And I'm meant to believe that a crazy spirit wandering the Forest is my ancestor? Please… Don't insult my intelligence."

To Bellatrix's slight surprise, Morgana just smiled. "I didn't expect you to believe me Bellatrix but neither is your belief required. For you will do my bidding regardless." Her voice turned cold and sharp as she narrowed her eyes.

"Oh is that so? Well good luck with that because I'm leaving." Bellatrix scoffed, she tried to make a move and leave but Morgana rose her hand. A glow encased Bellatrix, freezing her in place. "Hey! Let go of me!" Bellatrix shirked as she tried in vain to move.

"I think not." With a wave of her hand Bellatrix lost the ability to talk. "Now be a good descendant and listen closely."

Morgana eyed Bellatrix closely and began to pace around her with her head held high. "As I'm sure you know, I was as powerful a seer as I was a dark witch and I have seen our future. For a thousand years our line has stood strong, powerful…" She tone was one of pride before it started to grow darker. "But future events will come to pass that will bring forward the destruction of the house of Black." Morgana stopped circling Bellatrix and stood face to face with her, barely inches away. "But you Bellatrix… You are my direct descendant, a prodigy, you can change our inevitable future… But, alone you will not succeed, you'll need help and this help resides with a girl, her name is Hermione Granger. Only together will you be able to save the house of Black. Use _any_ means necessary… Now go… Go and save our family."

Without saying another word or freeing Bellatrix from her spell, she reached out, placing her hand over where Bellatrix's heart was and started muttering an incantation. Bellatrix felt herself grow warm as her vision blurred, her lungs started to burn as she struggled to breath, her heart was racing at unworldly speed. Then agonising pain came, she felt as if she was being literally ripped in half, if she could make a sound she was sure she would have ripped her throat apart screaming. Just before her consciousness faded, she felt the strange sensation of her whole body seemingly being lurched forward just as the world turned black.

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><p><strong>Hermione<strong>

It was a bright sunny September day and Hermione was sitting on her favourite spot as she studied, a rocky perch by the Black Lake with a single tree nearby overlooking the water's edge. The two boys, as usual, were busy avoiding doing any work and instead were having a mock duel. Shaking her head and sighing, she carried on doing her potions homework that Professor Slughorn had set them, scribbling away about the properties and history of grounded Dragon horn. '_At least they are giving me some peace to finish it.'_

"Mione!" Ron called out. '_Or not…' _Hermione thought and sighed softly.

"Yes Ron?" Hermione called back without looking, keeping her concentration on reaching the end of her seventh bit of parchment.

"Put down that homework and come duel for a bit."

Hermione gripped her quill tighter in annoyance and scribbled faster. "I can't Ron, I've only done six and a half parchments for Professor Slughorn."

"What? Bloody hell we only got that homework an hour ago!" Ron shouted in surprise.

"Hermione it's not due in till next Wednesday." Harry spoke up next, siding with Ron as usual.

"For your information Ronald! We got this almost two hours ago, and I want it out of the way as soon as. Merlin knows how much work the Professors will be setting us over the next few weeks, I don't want to fall behind, you shouldn't either!" Hermione snapped back defensive as she ranted about homework.

When the boys didn't reply, Hermione believed they had given up. Smiling to herself she carried on writing away. '_For the last three centuries ground Dragon horn has been a vital ingredient in the making of-'_ Her line of thought stopped suddenly when something wet hit the side of her head, soaking her and her homework. Her mouth hung over and she snapped her head in the direction of the boys standing together, Harry was holding his forehead and shaking his head, while Ron scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly.

'_I don't believe they just did that! My homework's ruined!' _Jumping to her feet she casted a quick drying spell on herself then tried to dry her homework which turned out to be only partly successful. Hermione groaned at the thought of having to start over but first, she needed to give someone a good scolding.

Turning on her heels she marched over to the boys. "Alright, who did that? Ron? Harry?" She snapped as she got closer.

Ron smirked and pointed at Harry who jumped back away from the redhead. "Hey don't blame that on me, I told you that wasn't a good idea." Harry said quickly as he adjusted his glasses.

"Ronald! You ruined all my hard work!" Hermione snapped angrily.

"Sorry Mione… I didn't mean to hit your homework too. Just wanted to give yourself a break." Ron smiled weakly, which Hermione shook her head at, feeling slightly upset at his actions.

"How is dowsing me in water giving me a break? I'm going to have to do that all again now!"

"It… Only took you a couple of hours… I'm sure you'll catch up again in no trouble." Ron said cheekily, trying to be positive and encouraging but it just annoyed Hermione further.

"That's not the point!" She shouted as she took a step forward.

Harry realising Ron was making matters worse for himself, tried to intervene. "Hermione, calm down… Ron just wanted to duel for a bit."

Hermione snapped her eyes to Harry, taking a deep breath she nodded. "Ok then."

"Ok?" Ron repeated, believing he had just been let off he smiled warmly at Hermione.

"Duel." Hermione stated flatly as she whipped out her wand.

Ron eyed up her wand, realising she was still angry he took a step back. "I've err changed my mind now I think and-"A deafening crack and a flash interrupted Ron followed by a swirl of black robes landing on top of the redhead.

"Hermione, what did you do?" Harry said sounding slightly amused as he moved towards his friend.

"Nothing… That wasn't me." Hermione replied with a shocked tone of voice, looking very confused as she approached.

A low groan came from under the pile of black fabric, as Hermione got closer she was surprised to see an extra set of limbs. '_Oh Merlin, I didn't do that did I? I mean I'm sure I didn't but-'_ Hermione lost track of her line of thought when she almost bumped into Harry who was staring down at Ron, she was just about to speak when she saw what had rooted Harry in place.

The extra set of limbs weren't the result of an unknown spell effecting Ron, instead Hermione saw that a female student with thick long black curly hair was laying on top of a very bashful Ron. "Er… Hey… You ok?" He asked in a bewildered tone, making no move to move the girl from on top of him.

The girl made a muffled groan against Ron's chest and looked up slowly at the smiling redhead, she blinked in confusion for a few seconds before making a disgusted face and pushing herself up hard off Ron's chest, winding him before she scampered to her feet. Twirling hysterically around on the spot the black haired girl whipped out her wand in the blink of an eye, she kept frantically switching between pointing it at Harry and Hermione as she breathed heavily with a glazed expression on her face.

For the first time, Hermione was able to get a good look at the girl. Aside from having the thick black curly hair that came to her shoulders, she had large eyes that were as dark as her hair with thick eyebrows to match. The darkness of her features stood out on her pale smooth complexion, the only bit of colour in sight was the crimson red of her lips, from the looks of her Hermione guessed the girl to be roughly their age between sixteen and seventeen years old. She was wearing a thick outdoor robe on top of a light grey jumper which had just a dash of silver and green around the collar, a black skirt that came just above her knees finishing with a pair of grey socks and plain black shoes.

Harry drew his wand in response and both he and Hermione prepared to defend themselves against the girl. Ron who had seemed to have snapped out of his bashful and confused trace, jumped to his feet with wand in hand ready to help, standing not far behind the girl. But it seemed his help wouldn't have been required, the girls eyes suddenly rolled back as she started to fall forward. Hermione was closest to her by then and saw what was coming before it happened, moving forward quickly she caught the girl in her arms as she collapsed and passed out.

"Who is she?" Harry asked as he slowly lowered his wand.

"I don't know, never seen her before. But she's a Slytherin student." Hermione replied as she struggled to stand up with the weight of the girl resting against her. "Ron stop gawking at her and come give me a hand."

"How can you tell?" Ron questioned as he took a hold of the girls other arm and placed it around his around. "They are unlike any house robes I've seen before."

"She's got green and silver woven around the collar of her jumper. Now come on, we need to get her to the Hospital Wing." Hermione said quickly as she got a firm hold of the mysterious girl.

Ron groaned and muttered something about helping a Slytherin. "Can't we just… Levitate her there?"

"She's got a skirt on Ronald! I'm sure she won't thank you for showing of her undies to half the school!" Hermione snapped and threw him a dark look when he looked like he was about to make a cheeky comment back.

Harry took point after quickly gathering all their things then together the three of them led the mysterious girl up to the castle, ignoring the looks and whispers of the students they passed. The girl seemed to be drifting in and out of consciousness, moaning and groaning as they led her up the castle path.

"Ughhh… Whoever… Just touched… My ass… Try that again and I'll… Hex you into oblivion." The girl growled out quietly before seemingly passing out again.

"Ron!" Harry hissed and rolled his eyes as he looked back at the redhead.

"Hey! It wasn't me!" Ron snapped back in defence.

"Err… Sorry, accident." Hermione mumbled out as she blushed in embarrassment.

As they entered they castle they heard a voice that they couldn't ignore. "You three! What's happened here?" Professor McGonagall's thick Scottish accent carried across the corridor as she glided towards them with her trademark stern face.

"We don't know Professor, there was a loud crack and a flash. Then she just appeared and collapsed shortly after, it was like she apparated here." Harry said unsure of himself as he scratched the back of his head.

McGonagall looked at Harry with a slightly annoyed look. "You know full well Mr Potter that no one can apparate into Hogwarts."

"We know Professor, but that's what it looked like."

Professor McGonagall approached the girl and lightly lifted her chin to get a good look at the unconscious girl, the old Professor's eyes widened slightly and released the girl. "Take her to the Hospital Wing quickly. I'll fetch Professor Dumbledore." McGonagall said quickly then rushed off in the direction of Dumbledore's office.

Hermione looked at Harry and Ron who seemed to be as bewildered as she was, with a shrug the trio then carried on their way to the Hospital Wing. They hurried along up the stairs as fast as they could without hurting the girl till they reached the first floor and made their way across the hall, and through the large pair of white wooden doors which led into the Hospital Wing.

Madam Pomfrey was sitting at her desk when the trio came in, she immediately sprang to her feet when she saw them and without a word and indicated to a bed. She was used to the trio coming in and had come to learn that the best thing to do when they were involved was to just get on with it. Hermione and the others walked over to the bed Madam Pomfrey was standing beside, and slowly Hermione eased her onto it, laying her down softly on her back and taking a step back as Pomfrey moved close to inspect the girl.

Just like McGonagall, Pomfrey's eyes widened when she got a clear look of the girl. "What happened?" She asked as she took a hold of the girl's wrist and started checking her over.

The boys just shrugged, leaving Hermione to explain this time around. "We're not sure Madam Pomfrey, she just appeared out of thin air then collapsed after trying to get to her feet." Hermione said calmly as she watched the nurse carry out some basic checks on the girl.

Pomfrey didn't look up as she lifted the girl's eye lids gently and checked her eyes. "I see, has she said anything?"

"Only for Hermione to stop touching her-" Ron began to say cheekily but received a quick elbow in the side before he could finish the sentence.

"Ron!" Hermione hissed out looking at Ron as she turned red before turning to address the nurse. "No Madam Pomfrey, well not really, nothing of Importance... She spoke once before passing out and hasn't come back round since."

"Hmm..." Pomfrey carried on making checks as she pulled out her wand and muttering a few spells in between her physical examinations of the girl. Pomfrey soon ushered the trio to move further back when they got in her, the boys were fixated on the girl, and Hermione could see why she was indeed very beautiful. Yet something was bugging Hermione, both McGonagall and Pomfrey had looked shocked when they saw the girl. '_Do they know who she is?'_

Hermione turned her head when she heard the sound of familiar voices approaching, the double doors opened wide and in stepped Dumbledore and McGonagall, who were still locked in conversation but soon stopped when they looked up over at Hermione and the boys. As they made their way over to the bed Pomfrey met them half way and whispered something that Hermione couldn't make out, Dumbledore nodded his head and approached the bed, walking past the trio while McGonagall stood beside them.

"So this is the young girl who appeared by the lake." He said softly to himself as he leant over to look at her, peering over his half-moon spectacles. "Interesting."

"Is it her Albus?" The older witch asked nervously as she wrung her hands.

Dumbledore said something under his breath that no one heard and nodded as he looked at McGonagall. "I believe it is Minerva."

"But… How is that possible?"

"I dare say your guess is as good as mine, but perhaps she can shed some light on the matter. Poppy is she stable enough to be woken?" Dumbledore asked as he look towards the matron who nodded hesitantly.

"Is that wise Albus? Given who she is?" McGonagall stepped forward, giving Hermione and the boys a quick frown.

"Perhaps, perhaps not." Dumbledore replied and regardless of what he thought, he pulled out his wand and aimed it at the girl's temple, a bright warm light lit up her face and moments after she took in a deep breath.

Her dark eyes began to flicker open as she groaned, the girl brought her hand to her temple and rubbed it before turning her head to the side and looked at the Professors, a frown appeared across her brow. "Whatever's happened, it wasn't me." She said in a cold defensive tone of voice.

Dumbledore chuckled softly and smile. "For once I'm inclined to believe you. But I'd like you to do something for me, can you please confirm your name miss?"

The girl's eyes narrowed on the headmaster and clenched her jaw. "What kind of stupidity is this? You know who I am _sir_!" She snapped, everyone excluding Dumbledore flinched at the tone she used at the headmaster.

"Miss-" McGonagall began to say sternly but Dumbledore cut her short with a raise of his hand.

"We just need to check to make sure you haven't suffered any concussion and know who you are." Dumbledore stated calmly.

"As if I could ever forget!" The girl spat out in defiance then scoffed. "Fine. Black, Bellatrix Black."

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><p><strong>AN:** Hope you enjoyed Chapter 1 :) let me know what you think and I'll squeeze in an update soon! x


	2. Chapter 2: Impossible Feat

**A/N:** Thank you to everyone who has support and reviewed this story so far :) the response to the first chapter was overwhelming and I'm glad you liked it. This chapter unfortunately contains a lot of dialogue between characters to explain certain aspects both to you the readers, and the characters. So I apologise if it's not as gripping as the last, I will make it up to you in future chapters. ^^

Tonight is a double dossing of Bellamione action ^^ **Even Angels Have Their Black Desires**, my primary Bellamione story has also been updated. That one will remain my primary project with until finished but this one will still be updated regularly :).

**Disclaimer:** The world of Harry Potter and the original storyline are not mine; they belong to J.K. Rowling.

Read, review and most of all… Enjoy!

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: Impossible Feat<strong>

**Bellatrix**

"Bellatrix Black? Is that meant to be some sort of sick joke?!" Shouted the Gryffindor boy with messy black hair and round glasses.

"Harry please." The Headmaster said softly as he glanced back at the boy who had turned red, his fists clenched and shaking at his side. Bellatrix sat up defensively and hissed at the boy, she was about to make a comment but Dumbledore cut in first. "Miss Black, do you remember what happened?"

Bellatrix kept her gaze locked on Harry's for a few moments, the corner of her lips curled up into a snarl as her eyes drilled into him. She turned her head slightly towards Dumbledore, her gaze still lingering on the boy before looking at the Headmaster. She frowned and tried to think back to how she had got here, she partly remembered being practically dragged to the castle by the Gryffindor's after waking up by the Black Lake. But how she came to be there in the first place was still a blur. "I… I'm not sure. I remember… Trees, darkness and pain… Agonising pain."

"No more then you deserve!" The boy called Harry spat out darkly.

Her gaze quickly darted back to him. "Who do you think you are talking to me like that?!" She hissed out in a dangerously low tone of voice, before she then shrieked. "Do you have any idea who I am!"

"I know exactly who you are you bitch!"

Bellatrix saw red, her hand darted quickly to the side table by her bed where her wand rested and grabbed it, but as soon as her fingers wrapped around it she was disarmed by the elderly woman. Her head snapped in the direction of the tall and stern elderly Professor, biting on her bottom to prevent herself saying anything that might get herself in further trouble. '_Who is she and why does she look familiar?' _She thought to herself as she studied the woman, she thought she knew all the professors at Hogwarts but she didn't know this one, yet for some reason she thought she did.

"Enough!" Dumbledore shouted and turned to the group of Gryffindors. "Minerva could you please take Mr Potter, Mr Weasley and Mrs Granger to my office please."

Scowling at the Gryffindors, Bellatrix's eyes lingered on their backs as the older witch started to lead them away. As she stared, something rose from the depths of her mind, words began to worm their way to the forefront of her mind as she remember something. '_Her name is Hermione Granger_…' A feminine voice spoke up in her head, piercing its way through her hazy memories. "Granger?" Bellatrix asked, calling out to the Gryffindors before they were led completely from the room, stopping them just short of the doors. "Hermione Granger?"

The group stopped and looked back, the boys moved in front of the girl as if to shield her away from her. Bellatrix rolled her eyes and looked closer at the three Gryffindors for the first time. The loud mouthed boy called Harry seemed to be the _head_ of that pack of lions, aside from his untidy jet black hair and round glasses, he had a thin face with bright green eyes. He stood almost a head shorter than the other boy and was only marginally taller than the girl, he would have been quite plain to look at if not for what seemed to be, a lightning shaped scar on his head.

The other boy was a redhead with a heavily freckled complexion and blue eyes, even although Bellatrix didn't know which face matched which surname; she guessed he was the Weasley from his appearance, which meant Harry belonged to the Potter family. This struck Bellatrix as odd, as both the Potters and the Weasleys were old pureblood families, and Bellatrix knew every pure blood that attended Hogwarts… And yet she had no idea who these two were. The only Weasley she knew of that had recently attended Hogwarts was Arthur Weasley, but he graduated last year and his brothers before that. As for the Potters, there was only one male Potter she was aware of and he was too young to attend Hogwarts, '_What was his name… James?'_

Then again, maybe she wasn't as well versed in the Potters and Weasleys as she was in some of the more elite pureblood families. After all the Weasleys were blood traitors, so she could be forgiven for not knowing each one that popped along, and as for the Potters… She had overheard whispers recently that the Potters were boarding on being blood traitors too.

Granger on the other hand was a family name she didn't know, which meant the girl was a half-blood… Or worse. Bellatrix concluded that was the reason why the two boys were shielding her from view, trying to protect her. '_I guess my reputation precedes me.'_ She thought smugly and grinned wickedly when her eyes met the girl's. Hermione seemed to look curious that she knew her name, and pushed the boys aside, snapping at them with a comment Bellatrix didn't hear. The girl had long wild and curly brown hair that came down to her shoulders, with chocolaty brown eyes to match as well as thin eyebrows which were a darker colour. Her face and smooth and slender with a light boarding on pale complexion, she was in a word, beautiful, or least that's how Bellatrix summed her up, albeit begrudgingly. '_I guess those of inferior heritage need to make up for it somehow.'_

Dumbledore turned to look back at her with an intrigued expression on his face, his voice snapped Bellatrix away from the beautiful girl. "Have you heard that name before Miss Black?"

"Yes, before I… Before what happened, I heard it then." Bellatrix concentrated hard on that name, bits of conversation came to her, jumbled images flashed before her mind but Bellatrix couldn't piece them together in a way that made sense. "I don't remember much but I remember being in the Forbidden Forest, I think… At night…"

"Out of bed after hours again Miss Black?" The Headmaster asked and surprised her with a chuckle.

Bellatrix folded her arms and huffed, looking away with her head held high. "I think I've forgotten again." She said childishly.

"Its ok Miss Black, I'll let you off this time. I may be able to help jog your memory. But I will need to ask a delicate question first, there is no easy way to put this and putting it off won't help anyone. What's the date?"

Bellatrix was taken aback by the question, she was tempted to mark a remark about the Headmaster getting on a bit if he didn't know the date. But somehow she knew he was being serious and that this conversation was about to go down a path she wouldn't like. "15th of September, 1969." She said as she looked back at the Headmaster, his face remained neutral but everyone else was clearly shocked. A sickening feeling spread throughout her stomach that she tried to force to one side and narrowed her eyes at Dumbledore. "Why?"

"Poppy could you bring that copy of today's Daily Prophet that is on your desk please." Dumbledore said without looking back, the woman in the nurse's uniform hurried over to her and picked up the paper then handed it to Dumbledore when she came back.

Dumbledore looked at the front page then flicked through it, ripping out one of the middle pages and folding it into his robes before slowly extending the paper to Bellatrix; she hesitated briefly then took it from him. Her eyes quickly scanned the front page and finally settled on an uncomfortable bit of information. "16th of September… 1996… That's not possible! I don't believe it!"

"I don't blame you for being in denial Miss Black, it does seem like an impossible feat. But that doesn't change the fact that you've ended up nearly three decades into your future, which is why I need to know what happened."

"I don't-" Bellatrix paused, her breathing began to increase at an alarming rate, her hand came up to her temple and gripped her forehead hard. "I don't feel so good…" With a groan Bellatrix fell onto her back, the nurse rushed to her side as the world once again faded to black.

* * *

><p><strong>Hermione<strong>

Hermione had been waiting nervously in the Headmaster's office for the past fifteen minutes with Harry, Ron and Professor McGonagall. The situation was unnerving at best, if what was said was true, then laying in the Hospital Wing was the teenage version of the Death Eater, Bellatrix Lestrange. Since Hermione had memories of Bellatrix Lestrange, it was clear that the older Bellatrix still existed in this time, which meant that there were now two Bellatrixs and if that wasn't bizarre enough, the young Bellatrix knew her name. '_If that is Bellatrix from the past… How did she know my name 10 years before I was even born?'_

This situation wasn't entirely new to Hermione; she had experienced something a little similar in her third year with the time turner, where at some points there had been two versions of her running around. But that had been her going back in time, and only as far back as a couple of hours at a time, not twenty seven years into the future. Even an hour reliving the past could be filled with possible paradoxes and countless dangers, Hermione couldn't even begin to imagine the catastrophe the Bellatrix situation could cause, nor did she want to.

The sight and sound of Harry pacing and grumbling distracted Hermione from her thoughts, he was clearly angry at the whole thing, after all it was only a few months ago that the present day Bellatrix killed Sirius. She couldn't begin to understand how he was feeling right now, the girl who would grow up to kill his godfather was only a few corridors away and he could do nothing about it. Ron was trying to calm Harry but he too looked just as uncomfortable and angry, McGonagall on the other hand was sitting in silence by Dumbledore's desk lost in thought as she stared at the wall.

After waiting a while longer, the door opened and Dumbledore came in stroking his beard. McGonagall's attention immediately snapped to him. "How is she Albus?" She asked the moment the door closed behind him.

Dumbledore met the gazes of everyone in his office and slowly made his way over to his desk. "Miss Black is sleeping at the moment, Madam Pomfrey says she's just exhausted. Which is understandable given how far she travelled, also I doubt the shock of finding out she's 27 years in the future helped much either." He spoke calmly as he took a seat behind his desk.

"Is it really her?" McGonagall asked with a frown, looking displeased at the Headmaster.

"I'm afraid so. I had a look into her mind, I didn't pry too hard as we have no idea what effect time travel has had on her mind. But I saw her surface memories and they confirmed her identity." He sat back with a serious look as he toyed with the end of his beard then smiled and looked over at McGonagall. "Also I do believe we finally have our culprit over the incident in Gryffindor Tower all those years ago, the one with the Slytherin décor and the missing muggleborns clothing."

Professor McGonagall rolled her eyes and sighed, shaking her head. "Why am I not surprised."

"Also this is most definitely Bellatrix's wand." Dumbledore pulled out a slightly curved 12 ¾ walnut wand from his robes and placed it on the centre of his desk.

Everyone stared at it, one thought ran through Hermione's mind the moment she saw it and knew that everyone else was thinking it too. '_That's the wand that killed… Will kill Sirius.' _Hermione tore her mind away from that depressing thought; a deep frown craved its way onto her forehead as she tried to work everything out. Drawing a blank and still feeling completely puzzled about the situation she took a few steps closer to the Headmaster's desk, her hands fidgeting nervously at her side. "Sir, surely this isn't possible? I've read countless books on time travel and the theories behind it, and not once have I ever seen a mention of someone successfully travelling forward."

Dumbledore gave Hermione a small smile. "Ah but tell me Miss Granger, if someone successfully travelled forward how would we know if they never came back?" He countered softly. "But you're quite right, there is no mention anywhere as far as I'm aware of such a feat."

Ron was the next one to approach Dumbledore's desk closer, standing close to Hermione he gave her a sheepish smile out of the corner of his mouth before looking at the Headmaster. "Could it be… I don't know a trap? Maybe that is Bellatrix Lestrange in disguise?" He asked, surprising Hermione slightly that his comment wasn't entirely stupid or thoughtless.

"It is possible Mr Weasley that this is all a fabrication created by Voldemort to get a faithful servant into Hogwarts. However, as skilled as Miss Black is at occlumency I don't think she could hide the truth from me in her unconscious and weakened state." Dumbledore stood up and began pacing back and forth behind his desk, he then met McGonagall's gaze and nodded at her. "However I have sent Professor Snape to check up on the whereabouts of Mrs Lestrange, until then we have to consider the possibility that this situation, however unlikely it seems, is happening."

After a short silence, Harry finally started to voice his anger as he lent against the furthest wall, his hands still clenched into fists at his sides. "No offense sir, but what does it matter? Either way that's Sirius's murderer! She should pay for what she did or will do!" He snapped angrily, startling one of the portraits that had been sleeping above him.

"And how do you propose we do that Harry? Send her to Azkaban?" The Headmaster asked in a calm tone as he stopped pacing to look directly at Harry.

"No…" Harry shook his head and took a step forward. "We kill her."

"Mr Potter!" Professor McGonagall said loudly in a surprised tone.

Hermione stared back at her friend in astonishment. "Harry!"

Dumbledore didn't look at all shocked by Harry's radical suggestion and merely shook his head. "I understand your anger Harry but that will not help."

Harry took a few steps closer to Dumbledore's desk and raised his voice. "Why not? If that is Bellatrix Lestrange is disguise then she deserves it… And if it is Bellatrix from the past then-"

The Headmaster raised his hand to cut him off. "Then she's still an innocent child." He finished for Harry, McGonagall raised an eyebrow at that comment. "Or at least innocent of the crimes you want to prosecute her for. Miss Black may be a troublemaker, but if we went around killing all the troublemakers and rule breakers at Hogwarts, we'd have a very empty school."

Hermione could see Harry was still going to argue the point and stepped in, her hand came up to rest on his shoulder, giving him a little squeeze and a smile. "We couldn't kill her anyway. Changing the future isn't that easy, if it was then everyone would try. You might make things ten times worst."

"Miss Granger is correct Harry, but I can see you're still not convinced… So let's say we did kill her. The Bellatrix Lestrange we are familiar with may cease to exist." He paused to make sure Harry was following, before strolling over to his window and looking out down upon the school grounds. "However… That doesn't mean you'll prevent anything. Andromeda for example, Nymphadora's mother. As the second eldest Black daughter, the burden of carrying on the name will fall to her and no doubt her sister's death, who she did love very much, will affect her deeply."

"And knowing Andromeda, she would have felt that it was her duty to preserve the memory of Bellatrix and assumed her mantle. She would have blamed Bellatrix's enemies for her death, namely half-bloods and muggleborns and sought the company of those who would help her get her revenge, like Lord Voldemort. She would never have married Ted Tonks, never would have had Nymphadora's Tonks. All of Bellatrix's Lestranges crimes may have inevitably become her own."

Dumbledore continued his monologue before Harry could have the chance to interrupt him. "Not only that, there is no telling how Bellatrix's death would have affected her little cousin Sirius at the time. He may have turned out very different because of it, and maybe, would never have befriended your father and mother. He may have joined Voldemort's cause instead and you might have been fighting him yourself a few months back."

"You can't know that sir." Harry snapped angrily, yet Hermione felt his body grow less tense under her grasp, a sign that he was defeated this time round.

"No I can't, but neither can you know her death will build a better future. There is no telling just how drastically the future would change." Dumbledore placed his hands on his desk and lent forward, looking at each one present in the eye. "Which is why it is imperative that we get her back to her own time as soon as possible."

Everyone, not including Dumbledore, shifted uncomfortably at the idea of having to help the raven haired pure blood. "Sir? What did you mean, may cease to exist? Surely if her past self were to die then her future self would die too?" Hermione asked, picking up on something the Headmaster had said to Harry.

"Normally yes. But Miss Black never disappeared in 1969, she lived through all those years. Yet we have… A copy, of her younger self here. Her death may or may not impact Bellatrix Lestrange, yet it's a risk we _cannot_ take."

Before Hermione could ask the question that was playing about on her mind, the Headmaster's door spammed open and a tall dark figure swept inside. Professor Snape caught sight of the trio as he moved briskly into the office, his long cloak flapping about his legs as he pushed rudely past them with a sneer. The head of Slytherin came to a stop before Dumbledore's desk with his arms folded and his lips pursed.

If Dumbledore was annoyed by the abrupt entrance, it didn't show, instead he spoke calmly to Snape. "Severus, did you manage to find out the whereabouts of Mrs Lestrange."

"I did…" He replied slowly before pausing, he jerked his head back in the direction of Hermione and the two boys. "But why is _Potter_ and his friends here? Is it wise for them to be involved in this all things considering?"

"Perhaps not, yet they were the ones to… Stumble across the young Miss Black. I'm sure you're are fully aware as I am, that if they were left out of the loop they would have find out on their own anyway." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled behind his glasses as he gave Hermione and the boys a slight smile, Snape also looked in their direction, giving them a much colder glance. "To prevent… Regretful actions, I deemed it best that they know from the start."

A small frown crossed Snape's brow then he moved slowly around the desk to Dumbledore's side, speaking in a low irritated tone of voice. Clearly he didn't want the '_Golden Trio'_ to hear, but Hermione still caught what he said. "In that case… Bellatrix was by the Dark Lord's side when I gave him the false information you presented me."

Dumbledore nodded shortly and gave Snape a brief gentle clap on the shoulder. "Thank you Severus. I appreciate the risk you took." The Headmaster said softly before turning to face the group.

McGonagall met Snape's gaze and frowned before looking up to Dumbledore. "What are we going to do with her Albus?"

Dumbledore seemed to ponder this for a few moments, pacing around the top of his office as he stroked the bottom of his beard until he came to a stop with his back to everyone. "We keep her hidden until we find a way to send her back to her own time." Came his calm reply as he looked over his shoulder, although his tone was peaceful there was no denying the authority and command behind it. His reply wasn't a suggestion, it was an order.

Hermione casted glances at the occupants in the room, gauging their reactions. Professor McGonagall and Snape exchanged another look; both clearly didn't like what the Headmaster was ordering. Harry looked like he was fit to burst with rage, despite Rons efforts in trying to calm him down. She seemed to be the only one who was looking at the bigger picture and following the Headmasters' line of thought. "But sir, all the time turners were destroyed, how would we? And even if they weren't, we can't send her back until we know how she got her, if Bellatrix didn't disappear in 1969 and we send this one back without understanding how she got here… Then it is likely her own time would end up with two of her."

Snapes head snapped in her direction, giving her that cold hard look that he always gave her when she spoke out to display her high intelligence and vast knowledge. The _insufferable know-it-all_ was what he had taken to referring to her as."Quiet Granger." He snapped at her.

"Severus." Dumbledore opposed kindly before turning his attention to her. "For a witch your age Hermione you intellect never ceases to amaze me." Dumbledore paused and gave a very proud look and a smile, Hermione couldn't help but blush at the compliment. "As always you are quite correct. Until Miss Black can tell us how she got here and we understand how this happened, she must remain in our care. It is most likely that the only way she can go back is the same way she came. Any other way may result in a paradox of unimaginable devastation to the timeline."

Snape stopped glaring at Hermione and turned to address the Headmaster. "And how… Do you propose we keep Miss Black hidden?" He spoke in a slow and sarcastic tone of voice, not bothering to hide his discontent of the idea.

"We take her on as a fresh student with a new identity, that way we can keep her safe as well as keep an eye on her until she goes back."

McGonagall almost fell of her chair, her mouth hanging wide open in shock at Dumbledores comment. "A new identity…?" She spoke in a high pitch tone of voice, her disbelief and shock written all over her face. "Albus you of all people will know how proud Bellatrix is about being a Black… She will never agree to that."

"She will. She won't like it and she'll fight it, but she will."

"How are we going to… I mean… What do we tell her?"

Hermione was listening to the exchange carefully, when Professor McGonagall put forward her question to Dumbledore, she couldn't stop the answer rolling off her tongue. "We have to tell her the truth." Everyone's gaze shifted to meet Hermione's, she gulped slightly at being in the spotlight. "I mean… It's not like one person travelling back and holding all the cards, all the dangerous information. She's travelled 27 years into the future; we can't keep three decades of history hidden, especially with it being printed in the Daily Prophet twice a day. If we're upfront with her, we can ease her into what she will find out anyway, hopefully she'll understand the great danger in being here and go along with it, even if she doesn't like it…"

"I fully agree Miss Granger." Dumbledore said as he nodded his head.

"But… If she goes back, knowing what will happen in the future… Wouldn't that be as bad as killing her? She could use that information to help You-Know-Who." Ron spoke up from behind Hermione; she turned to look at him, genuinely surprised and gave him a small smile which flustered him.

"Miss Black is a smart girl; she'll understand the grave dangers involved in trying to shape the future using what she's learnt. However that doesn't mean I won't take precautions, Bellatrix can be a tad reckless. When she's awake and ready I'll preform the unbreakable vow with her as insurance."

"You mean… We can force her not to become a Death Eater and stuff?"

"No Mr Weasley. For the same reasons why we can't kill her, we also can't use the vow to our advantage by restricting her future path. Miss Black still has to agree to the vows and I fear if we try and push it, she'll reject it and become very uncooperative. She doesn't know it yet, but she holds most the cards by simply being here, her safety and cooperation is paramount." Dumbledore then met everyone's gaze in turn, giving them a serious look over his half-moon spectacles and spoke slowly. "We are walking a very thin line, one hasty move, one rash decision, one selfish action and this future could potentially crash and burn. This is the reason why time travel is so heavily restricted and largely forbidden, even the Dark Lord himself wouldn't try and use it for his own gains. I hope that puts this in perspective for you all."

The Headmaster paused then walked around his desk, moving closer to the trio. "As you three already know who she is and as she can't go into Slytherin due to Mr Malfoy… She'll be under your charge as a fellow Gryffindor until this situation blows over-"

"No!" Harry interrupted with a shout, yelling inches away from Dumbledore's face, his eyes glistening with furious tears. "She killed Sirius! I will not help her!"

"Harry… I understand your anger, truly I do. But Miss Black isn't yet the person who will kill Sirius. However… Her future involvement in his death is one thing Bellatrix cannot know. At least, not yet. Don't forget that in her own time Sirius is only roughly 9 years old, the knowledge that she will kill her little cousin could prove devastating." He moved past them slowly and began to circle his office, alternating between looking at his hands as he walked, the eyes of Hermione and the boys. "You three are in a very unique position. While here Miss Black will have no choice but to tolerate your company, maybe abit of your kind and heroic traits will rub off on her and she'll go back a better person. We can't kill her; we can't force her down the right path… But we can perhaps subtly alter who she would otherwise become and maybe… Just maybe, she'll tread a better path of her own free will and a slightly brighter future will be born."

Hermione stared at Dumbledore, slightly taken back by his cunning. Her mind formed countless scenarios about how the world could be better, if Bellatrix was changed even a little bit, all the life's that may be saved and not just from death. But even that was a dangerous path to tread, who knows who or what would take Bellatrix's place in a world where she was _good_, yet perhaps that path was worth the risk. '_The longer she's here… The higher the chance will be that the future will change no matter how much we try to prevent it. Surely then it will be better to try aim for one that's slightly brighter?'_

McGonagall seemed to have shaken herself out of her shock and was now frowning at Dumbledore. "A Gryffindor… Really Albus? She'll go insane. If I didn't know better I'd say a part of you was enjoying this."

Dumbledore turned to look at his old friend; Hermione caught the twinkle in his eyes and the slight upward curl of his lips. "Perhaps."

"The nerve." A voice came from above nearby; Hermione looked up to see an elderly man with grey hair, a large beard and a headdress frowning down at them. Hermione recognised the man from a similar portrait at 12 Grimmauld Place, Phineas Nigellus Black, the least popular Hogwarts Headmaster of all time.

"Ah Phineas, I was wondering if you was going to comment. As it happens I'm glad you were listening because I'll need your help in talking to your great great granddaughter. Her presence here could spell further disaster for your line, I trust you see that. Frankly I don't expect her to take too much heed of my words, but you… She will listen to."

The former Headmaster stroked his beard and nodded slightly. "I see… I'll help you… IF, you can promise me no harm will befall her. I've already witnessed the passing of the male line; I do not wish to see the same tragedy repeated."

Dumbledore stood under the portrait and place his hand over his heart. "You have my word; no harm will come to Miss Black for as long as she's here."

"Then I will… Have words with her, the future of the house of Black must be preserved."

"Thank you Phineas, it is so heart-warming to see you do this for the right reason." Hermione held back a smile at the Headmasters' sarcastic tone.

Silence fell, everyone seemed to busy thinking over events to come, or in Harry's case, fuming over them. Realising now was the right now to branch the question that had been plaguing her mind for the past half an hour, Hermione moved forward closer to Dumbledore and spoke quietly. "Sir-"

"Miss Granger, no doubt you are wondering how it is Bellatrix knows your name. I do not have the answer but…" Before Dumbledore could finish he was interrupted by a rapid pecking at his window, moving over to the window he opened it and let in a small owl with a note tied around its leg. Dumbledore removed the note, and then nodded; he gave the owl a little pet and sent it on its way. "You can ask her yourself it seems. She's woken back up and is claiming to remember. I have the feeling that Bellatrix knowing your identity may lead you to having a key role in her time here and in sending her back."

Smiling warmly at Hermione, Dumbledore turned to his Deputy Head. "Minerva. Could you bring Miss Black here please."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Hope you enjoyed Chapter 2 :) Sorry again for the lengthy dialogue, let me know what you think and I'll squeeze in an update soon! x


	3. Chapter 3: Belladonna Melania

**A/N:** Thank you to everyone who has support and reviewed this story so far :) the feedback I'm getting from this story is amazing, I hope you continue to love it as much as I enjoy writing it. You may have noticed this chapter is… considerably longer than the previous two. Like before a large part of this chapter was dialogue driven due to the nature of the plot, so I added a large section to the end to make up for this ;) the ending will be worth it :p lol.

**Disclaimer:** The world of Harry Potter and the original storyline are not mine; they belong to J.K. Rowling.

Read, review and most of all… Enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3: Belladonna Melania<strong>

**Bellatrix**

Bellatrix slapped the nurse's hand away as she tried to assist her in changing clothes. "I do not need your help!" She snapped as she finished shedding her old house robes, cardigan and tie, albeit slightly groggily. "I'm not an imbecile!"

The nurse rolled her eyes and muttered something about some people never changing; Bellatrix scowled at her and moved towards the set of plain houseless clothes that the older stern witch insisted she put on when she turned up. The older woman let out an annoyed sigh as Bellatrix began to reach for the new top. "Miss Black, I'm not going to ask you've taken it upon yourself to not wear a bra under your blouse. But after today, every time you fail to follow the school's dress policy, will result in an evening's detention with me."

Giving the woman a hard look, she swiftly put the plain grey cardigan followed by the tie and looked around for her wand; she searched around the bed for a few moments until she remembered that the older woman had disarmed her before her dizzy turn. "Where's my wand?" Bellatrix asked her bluntly as she grabbed her new robe and pulled it on.

"Where's my wand, Professor?" The woman corrected with a cold tone and narrowed eyes.

Bellatrix snorted and folded her arms, holding her head up high. "Where's my wand, _Professor?"_

"Professor Dumbledore has it for the time being, you'll have no need for it just yet." The woman replied sternly before turned to the nurse, who nodded her consent for her patient to be taken away. "Follow me Miss Black."

When the woman turned her back, Bellatrix stuck her tongue out childishly at her and mouthed her last words mockingly before following in her footsteps. "Who are you _Professor?_ You look awfully familiar and you seem to believe you know me?"

"Hmmph. You really don't recognise me? I guess I have changed quite a bit since you last saw me." The woman looked back as they reached the Hospital Wing doors. "Professor Minerva McGonagall. But as before, you will refer to me as Professor, Professor McGonagall or simply Ma'am, Miss Black."

Bellatrix's eyes widened slightly and took a second to take the woman's appearance in; the older witch was tall with a stern thin face and a tight jaw, she had dark hair combed back into a tight bun and wore a pair of square glasses that covered a pair of sharp green eyes. Thinking about it the woman did look remarkably similar to the McGonagall she knew and loathed, just with far more wrinkles. "Professor McGonagall? Wow, you look far older then I recall… And that's saying something." Bellatrix gave McGonagall a slight cheeky grin while the woman scowled. '_I must admit… Her tone of voice and looks are a dead match. But then that would mean their batshit crazy story about me being nearly 30years in the future is true… Bah rubbish!'_

"And you Miss Black are still as disrespectful as I remember." McGonagall said coldly and started back on her way while Bellatrix followed closely.

She followed the older witch through the castle, her eyes drinking in every inch of detail. The castle itself didn't look at all different… But the faces she passed, she didn't recognise a single one, not even any of the Slytherin students… Even their uniforms were different, more greens, yellows, blues and reds brightened up the bland uniform. The sight almost unnerved her as much as the fact that, no one paid her a single bit of attention… Well the boys did… But not the right sort, none of them feared her, no one scurried away, trembled or broke out into tears as she approached. '_What in Merlin's name is going on?! They all can't be in on this ridiculous story can they?'_

Bellatrix wasn't too sure, even if they were, the weak mudbloods would still cringe or react in her presence, there was no way that would change overnight, surely someone would break… But no one did. Once more she felt a sickening churn in the pit of her stomach, but this time thankfully she didn't feel the overwhelming need to collapse. '_Ugh… How could I look so weak! Fainting? Really?' _Bellatrix grumbled lowly and mentally chastised herself. '_If… IF… What they say is true… Then that must be why I had a… Lapse in consciousness… Pfft let them try travelling that far in time and walk away feeling dandy.'_

Not paying attention to where she was going while she pondered over the accuracy of their story, she bumped into the Professor when she came to a standstill. The Professor gave her a stern glare, which grew when Bellatrix didn't bother apologising before McGonagall turned to the Gargoyle statue they had stopped in front of. Bellatrix recognized it instantly as the stairwell leading to the Headmaster's office, after all she had been sent there more times than she could remember. "Liquorice Scarab."

Upon hearing the password the stone Gargoyle sprung to life and leapt to one side, revealing a spiral staircase. Professor McGonagall stepped to one side and beckoned for Bellatrix to take point, without so much as acknowledging the Professor; Bellatrix walked briskly past her and climbed the stairwell until she came face to face with the Headmaster's door. She knocked rapidly at the door which swung open barely a second after her fist left the surface.

She stepped inside the large circular room confidently with her head held high; as she did every other time she ended the Headmaster's office. If she indeed was three decades in the future, the room had changed very little; it was stilled lined with portraits of old Headmaster's, half the walls were jam packed with dusty old books, which she had to admit she was envious about, there was more than a few rare one of a kind books here that she had always been dying to read. Silver instruments and magical artefacts of one kind or another filled the gaps that weren't occupied by books, a part from one space which was taken by the Sorting Hat. There was also a pensieve that stood on an altar in the middle of a half circle cabinet.

A few old maroon leather chairs sat around the room in groups, each group shared a small table between them; the Gryffindors from earlier sat and occupied one set of chairs, while a man with long black greasy hair sat alone. All turned to look at her, all with varying expressions, Harry was still hard faced and glaring, the red head looked annoyed, and the black haired man had his lips turned up into a snarl while Hermione… Oddly enough seemed rather relaxed. Ignoring them for now, Bellatrix looked towards the far end of the room where the Headmaster's desk was, and sure enough Dumbledore was sat behind it with his pet Phoenix on its perch just behind him. Her eyes fell to his desk where they caught sight of an unmistakable curved 12 ¾ walnut wand sat in the middle which she eyed hungrily.

"Ah Miss Black, please come take a seat." Dumbledore said politely and with a wave of his hand a comfy chair appeared before his desk.

The door shut behind her as McGonagall stepped in and Bellatrix couldn't help but think she was about to be heavily outnumbered on something. Frowning, she strolled forward as if she owned the place, answering the glares and scowls of the two Gryffindor boys and black haired man with growls of her own as she walked past, before taking the seat before Dumbledore's desk.

"Right, Miss Black. Before we discuss what's going on, we need to know what happened to you that night; I am told that you remember now." He asked calmly, Bellatrix watched him closely then nodded shortly. "Wonderful, then in your own time Miss Black."

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Bellatrix began to tell the Headmaster about the night in question. She told him, grudgingly how she was out after hours and after being caught by her sister, went out onto the grounds and lounged by the lake for a while. She recalled the air turning cold and catching something moving out of the corner of her eye, first she had thought Andy had followed her but on second glance didn't see her. Pausing to take another breath she then told the Headmaster how she spotted a white figure lurking on the outskirts of the forest and after closer inspection how it turned out to be a spirit.

"She was arrogant, and so full of herself." Bellatrix said as she rolled her eyes and snorted. "She said she was the spirit of Morgana Black, otherwise known as Morgan le Fay." The Headmaster's eyebrows rose at that but didn't interrupt her, she told him how the spirit had bound her and what she had said, Bellatrix hesitantly slightly when she reached the part about Granger before telling him reluctantly. "Then she did something to me, she spoke an incantation… After a few moments of agonizing pain I lost consciousness… Then I woke up on top of the redhead."

Dumbledore nodded and sat back in his chair, his hand slowly stroking his beard, it was only now she noticed that his other was covered up… Or at least mostly covered, she could still see the tips of his fingers which were, bizarrely, charred black. Before Bellatrix could make a comment, the old Headmaster cut in first. "Well it's nice to hear the full story after 27years."

"Full story? What do you mean, sir?"

"Ah, forgive me. You see, we already knew part of your story. Your instincts were right; Andromeda did follow you that night." Dumbledore said with a chuckle as Bellatrix folded her arms and grumbled under her breath. "It was she that brought you to the Hospital Wing that night."

"But… She didn't… They brought me." She said slightly confused as she beckoned her head to the Gryffindors.

"Both did. I must ask that you listen to me carefully Bellatrix, because this is about to get very confusing for you." The Headmaster's face grew emotionless as he lent forward with his arms crossed on the table. "That night Andromeda saw what happened to you, she brought you to the Hospital Wing and told me what happened… You however, had no recollection of any events that had taken place that night; I couldn't even find a trace of them when I peered into your mind. But the thing is Miss Black… You never vanished that night, you never vanished ever. You lived out your life and you still are… Out there… Is another version of yourself, 27 years older."

Bellatrix's eyes grew as large as crystal balls; her jaw would have hit the floor if her mouth was capable of such a feat. For the first time in her life she was speechless, shocked beyond belief, and the utmost serious look the Headmaster was giving her did a fine job of keeping her disbelief silenced. From there the old Professor began to tell about the path she had chosen to walk, about the wizarding war, and this Lord Voldemort. She was, or to be more specific the other Bellatrix, was part of a group who called themselves Death Eaters, they followed a man called Lord Voldemort, who believed in pure blood supremacy. He and his followers, including her other self, sought to purify the wizarding world of those unworthy of magic and those they believed beneath them, to the point where they waged war against all those that apposed those beliefs.

But at the height of his power, this Dark Lord, was defeated by an infant, by none other than the Gryffindor boy, Harry Potter. Who survived his killing curse and somehow the Dark Lord perished himself instead, some of his followers were rounded up, some escaped justice. Bellatrix Lestrange however went looking for Lord Voldemort along with her husband, her brother in-law and another Death Eater; they tortured the Longbottom family to the point of insanity for information. It was that crime that had put her in Azkaban for fourteen years, a sentence which Bellatrix Lestrange embraced. The thought of being sent to such a place made Bellatrix shudder and her blood run cold. But now the Dark Lord was back, Bellatrix Lestrange and the others had been broken out, his followers reunited and now the world was bracing for the second war.

After Dumbledore had finished filling her in, he pulled several bits of paper out of his robes and handed them to her. Bellatrix's eyes quickly skimmed over the content, they were articles and pages from the Daily Prophet, all of them were about either the wizarding war or the Dark Lord, save one.

_**THE LONGBOTTOMS TORTURERS BROUGHT TO JUSTICE **_

_Today the wizarding community will rise up and cheer, knowing that finally the culprits behind the Longbottoms torture have been brought to justice. The Death Eaters, Bellatrix Lestrange aged 32, Rodolphus Lestrange aged 31, Rabastan Lestrange aged 28 and Barty Crouch Jr. aged 19 were sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban for what was described as one of the most heinous crimes ever brought before the Council of Magical Law, the torture, by use of the Cruciatus curse, on the Longbottoms which resulted in permanent incapacitation. _

_While sentence was being passed, Barty Crouch Jr. continued to plead his innocence, while the Lestranges showed no remorse, Bellatrix Lestrange in particular seemed completely unaffected by the proceedings and sat upon chained chair as if it were a throne with a smile on her face. She stood up and proudly declared after the council passed verdict. _

"_The Dark Lord will rise again, Crouch! Throw into Azkaban, we will wait! He will rise again and will come for us; he will reward us beyond any of his other supporters! We alone were faithful! We alone tried to find him!"_

_The Dementors soon swiftly escorted the Death Eaters out of the courtroom and will be, by now, in a cell in Azkaban. A victory for justice, but a hollow one, the Longbottoms will never regain what was lost and are themselves, sentenced to life in St. Mungo's Hospital. Full details on the trial can be found on page 28._

Attached to the article was a photo of Bellatrix Lestrange, screaming out in fury as she was chained and given a prisoner ID. She put the articles down on the desk slowly, they all backed up what Dumbledore had told her, she swallowed hard and tried to speak but quickly found she had yet regained the ability to talk. Instead she slouched in her chair and gazed up out the window and watched as sunset approached. All this information, considering if it was true… Although with all the articles it was getting harder to deny it, was too much to take in.

'_Who is this… Dark Lord? I can't imagine being utterly devoted to anyone enough to go carefree and hopeful to… Azkaban… I mean… I hate blood traitors, half-bloods, mudbloods and muggles… But would I really go that far? Would I really give my life up for a cause like that?'_ She frowned to herself as she thought it over, if back then she believed the Dark Lord would have prevailed, if she believed she would be helping to build a better world… Yes… She could see herself going down that path. '_I guess… It would depend on how, charming and persuasive this Dark Lord was… I mean he'd have to be as convincing as that… Handsome young man was who visited over the summer holidays… Tom Riddle… I wonder if they are in league with each other? Hmmm I guess I can ask Dumbledore, he seems to be telling me… Everything… Why?'_

Bellatrix shook her head. '_One question at a time.'_ Slowly she tilted her head back down, meeting the sparkling eyes of the Headmaster behind his half-moon spectacles. "Does… The name Tom Riddle mean anything to you?" She asked cautiously, watching the man's expression.

The Headmaster showed no emotion as he nodded his head. "Tom Riddle was Lord Voldemort's name before he fashioned himself a new one. Would I be right in guessing then that you met Tom back then?"

She bit her lip, wondering if she should say anything then slowly nodded. "He visited my father a couple times during the last summer holidays… He was… Extraordinary." She flashed a small smile, ignoring the angry sounds that were coming from behind her. '_So, they are one and the same… No wonder I follow him… Dark, powerful, handsome and utterly charming…' _Her smile grew as butterflies fluttered about in her stomach, she never told anyone, least of all Tom, but she couldn't deny the _crush_ she had on him. He was everything she admired in a person and not only that but he treated her like an equal, despite her being both a female and younger.

Then just as suddenly as the feeling had come, it was soon dashed when she remembered her other self, Bellatrix Lestrange. '_Lestrange… I married one of those repulsive brothers… I guess… Nothing became of me and Tom.' _In that moment her heart broke and her smile fell. '_Stupid… Stupid me! For allowing myself to believe I'd ever… Bah fuck my life.' _Her nails dug into her skin when she felt the coming of tears and forced them back, if she had to break down she'd do it later, not in front of these people.

Drawing in a sharp breath, she composed herself and met the Headmaster's gaze again. "Why are you telling me all this?" She asked shortly, hoping that her tone lacked the dismal feelings she now felt and that she still appeared strong.

"Miss Black you are an intelligent girl, the brightest of _your_ age. I'm sure some as inquisitive as you has read up on the theories of time travel?" He asked her softly, she scowled at his knowledge of her rule breaking activities and replied with a stiff nod. "Then you are aware of the dangers involved. I told you because frankly, I need you to trust me for once. This is a very dangerous situation you are in, and it's not just yourself in danger… But your family and everyone else, this entire future is at risk. If we are to safely navigate these circumstances, I need your full cooperation, something I will not get by lying to you or hiding the truth from you."

"It almost sounds like you care _sir." _Bellatrix stared at him hard and while the rebel inside her wanted to argue about what he was saying, she couldn't fault the logic behind it. '_If what he saying is true, then...'_

"I do care Miss Black, your wellbeing is very important to me." Dumbledore said with a slight smile, his tone didn't lack for sincerity.

Bellatrix laughed at that as she got to her feet and began pacing in front of the Headmaster's desk, her eyes never leaving his twinkling orbs. "Oh really? You just told me all about Bellatrix Lestrange and how I… How she helps this Dark Lord, who you strongly oppose. You are their enemy, my _future_ enemy… Why would you care about my wellbeing?"

"You are not yet that person Miss Black and you are still my student, I have always placed the wellbeing of my students' first and foremost."

"Hmmph… If you say so _sir_. It matters not either way; do you really expect me to believe any of this? As far as I'm concerned this is just some trick, to make me see the _error_ of my ways." Bellatrix said mockingly over her shoulder at the old Headmaster, before turning to look at some of the books on display. If Dumbledore was taking offense to her insolence, he didn't show it; in fact it surprised Bellatrix somewhat at how much he was letting her get away with.

The two other adults in the room glowered at her, McGonagall looked like she was about to chastise her but was interrupted by Dumbledore chuckling away as he stood. "I'd consider you a fool if you did believe me, and one thing you are not Miss Black, is a fool. Which is why I enlisted the help of someone who you would listen to." With a glint in his eye, Dumbledore walked over to the far wall with the biggest collection of portraits, he beckoned Bellatrix over as he rocked on casually on his heels. "I assume you remember your great great grandfather Phineas Nigellus Black?"

"Dumbledore." Phineas acknowledged the current Headmaster with a brisk nod before his eyes met Bellatrixs, his painted lips curled into a slight smile. "Greetings my child."

Bellatrix turned swiftly away from the bookcase and looked over up at the portrait, with her held high she elegantly waltzed over to Dumbledore's side and curtsied. "Great great grandfather Phineas, it's an honour to speak with you again."

"Such a respectful child, you always was my favourite great great grandchild Bellatrix." To everyone else in the room, his praise sounded emotionless and empty. But Bellatrix detected the subtle pride in his tone and allowed his compliment to stroke her ego. "So it pains me even more to have to tell you that what you've been told is true." The portrait sighed while Bellatrix's face fell upon hearing his words.

"But… This is all just some foolish joke! It has to be!" She voiced her scepticism loudly but her words lacked weight, her tone uncertain.

"I understand this is distressing child, but you need to… Listen to Dumbledore on this, for our house's sake. You being here could spell further disaster for our line, Dumbledore has promised me no harm will befall you in his care and they will get you home. The man may be many things, but he's also a man of his word… But for him to help you, to help our family, he will need your cooperation."

Losing her elegant posture, Bellatrix dropped her shoulders and let them slump as her arms dangled awkwardly at her sides. '_Phineas_ _wouldn't lie about something like this… Not if our family was at stake… This really is happening then…' _Her gaze dropped from her ancestors and stared hard at the floor. '_I really am stuck in the future… That bloody cow! Why would she do that! Save our line?! She could have elaborated slightly and give me more than a filths name!' _ Her hands clenched into fists, her anger began to rise as Bellatrix started to accept her predicament. She had read all about time travel in her earlier years when sneaking into the restricted section and as Dumbledore rightly assumed, she knew the dangers of being here, especially with another version of herself running around. She also knew that if anyone could help her, it was regretfully Dumbledore. '_Even Phineas_ _thinks so, and he hates Dumbledore!' _

Bellatrix sighed as Phineas words played back to her, one comment in particular caught her attention, looking slowly back up; she narrowed her eyes on the man in the portrait while cocking her head to the side. "What do you mean? Further disaster to our line? What's happened?"

The elderly wizard's stern and well composure fractured as he sighed and lent back in his portrait, his hand toyed with the end of his beard. "The Black line… Has become extinct on the male side of the family. Your father died many years ago now, as did your uncles. Regulus also… And… A few months back, Sirius too-"

"No!" Bellatrix yelled out, cutting Phineas off midsentence. She temporarily forgot herself and those that were present as she stamped her foot childishly, her arms stiffened at an angle as Bellatrix thrust her chin out in defiance. "You lie!"

"I would not lie about something as serious as this Bellatrix." Phineas didn't rise to her silent challenge, he merely closed his eyes and nodded, showing emotion which was something the deceased pure-blood rarely did as he spoke to her sombrely "Your father died-"

"I don't care about him! I care about Regulus and Sirius, how did they die?!" Bellatrix's shouted as she grew hysterical, she ignored the noises the Gryffindors were making; Bellatrix was far too busy holding it all together, not wanting to break down and cry tears of sorrow and grief over the news that her baby cousins were dead in front of her _enemies_. '_What kind of fucking future is this?! My poor little dear cousins…'_

Phineas stared at her for a few moments, of course he didn't understand why she hated her father, none of them did, none of them knew, except her sisters. "I am… Unsure about how Regulus died, just that he died young not long after joining the Death Eaters. Sirius however…" Phineas paused; his eyes seemed to flicker to Dumbledore momentarily before he told her. "Died in a fight between the Death Eaters and Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix."

Bellatrix quickly rounded on her heels to face the Headmaster, anger flashed in her eyes as she shrieked in his face with a tone of pure and utter hatred. "You killed him! You stand there wanting me to trust you; yet you didn't tell me you killed my cousin!"

The old wizard didn't even batter an eyelid at her aggression, nor flinch at the venom in her tone of voice. "We didn't kill Sirius; he was a good man and Harry's godfather in fact. He was on our side; he died fighting the Death Eaters." His mouth curled up into a small smile, his tone portrayed a certain fondness for her cousin as he spoke, but she didn't believe him, she wouldn't.

"Liar!" Bellatrix spun on the spot, looking around then faced the shelf to her side, her arm shot up and swiped at a collection of artefacts and instruments, sending them crashing to the floor.

Professor McGonagall voiced her protest but it was Phineas voice that got Bellatrix's attention. "I'm afraid not, Sirius… Took a different path in life from you… He may have been a blood traitor, but in the end; he was the last Black to carry our name… His passing still grieves me, despite what he was."

She stopped what she was doing, holding a delicate instrument as she looked up at her ancestor. "I don't… I don't believe it… Sirius a blood traitor?" She spoke softly with a look of shock on her face, but she knew Phineas had a portrait in Sirius's childhood home and he would have known what happened in Sirius's life. "I… I don't care, I hope my other self, gave whoever killed him hell! Why would that dammed spirit send me to this point in time if she wanted me to save our family? Why didn't she send me to the point before his death!" Bellatrix screamed out till her throat grew hoarse and ended up throwing the instrument in her hand across the room.

A hand softly came to rest on her shoulder, Bellatrix's head snapped up angrily, breathing heavily she met the soft gaze of the Headmaster. "Your grief is understandable, and if smashing up my office helps then by all means continue… Regarding your question however, I'm afraid your guess is as good as ours Miss Black. Morgan le Fay was an extremely talented and powerful dark witch; she had access to some of the darkest and most ancient forms of magic. If anyone possessed the ability to not only retain some magical ability in her ethereal form, but the power to send someone forward in time, it would have been her… And while she could have made a mistake and sent you too far back, it does seem unlikely for someone as highly skilled as her."

Dumbledore released his gentle grip on her shoulder and moved over to one of the many bookshelves, his long thin elderly fingers brushing against the old tomes, seemingly searching for something as he carried on speaking. "She was also, like she told you, an exceptionally gifted seer, she must have seen something that will occur at this point in time. Perhaps the key to saving your family is more cryptic then simply saving a family member from death… Ah." The old Headmaster pulled a partially old book from the second highest shelf; he blew the dust of it, revealing a dark leather cover with ancient symbols on. Looking over at her, he smiled slightly then headed over to the desk and placed it on the centre.

Bellatrix narrowed her eyes on the old tome, knowing the Headmaster pulled it down for a reason, but something far more urgent was forcing itself to the forefront of her mind, her sisters. Wide eyed as she grew fearful, she held her breath and hoped nothing ill had befallen them like it had done for her cousins. "What about my sisters?! Are Andy and Cissy ok? Are they alive-"

The old wizard must have noticed how she was starting to panic and growing hysterical, he cut her off with a raise of his hand and a soft, calming hushing noise. "Calm yourself Miss Black, both your sisters are alive and well."

Closing her eyes, she let out a sigh of relief and allowed herself a small smile before reopening her eyes and walking slowly back over to Dumbledores desk. "Can I… Can I see them?"

"It may be possible for you to see Andromeda. But Narcissa is out of the question."

"What why?! You said they are ok! Is something wrong with her?"

"No, Narcissa is perfectly well. Bellatrix, you understand that out of everyone you can't interact with in this time, it is yourself. You know this right?" Dumbledore looked away from the tome, giving her a serious look; she frowned at the change in topic before nodding once. "There is no telling what paradoxes would be caused if you two interacted, you may cancel each other out of existence. That in itself could cause disaster to the timeline."

A cold chill ran down Bellatrix's spine, she knew just exactly what he was referring to. "I read about that in the…" She paused, knowing that she'd have to admit to breaking another rule. Crossing her arms and rolling her eyes, she carried on reciting what she had found. "Restricted section, a pair of wizards who visited themselves in the past… One touched his younger self and wiped out his entire existence. The only reason we know about it is because his friend witnessed the paradox, because he was close to the epicentre his memories weren't altered by the change in time. The Ministry verified his memories as originals and documented it, it was after then that messing with time was so heavily restricted and practically forbidden."

"Quite right. Now we don't know if the same thing would happen in the reverse situation, but I'm sure none of us are willing to find out." He paused for a few moments to take back his seat then gestured for her to take the other. "Which brings me back to why you can't see Narcissa. If Narcissa found out about you, she would tell Bellatrix Lestrange. Who in turn would tell Lord Voldemort and I'm afraid he is not as cautious about the safety of your wellbeing, not if he thought he could use this situation to his advantage."

Scoffing loudly, she dropped in a less than ladylike fashion back into the chair, her eyebrow raised at the comment he made about Cissy. "Surely that goes for Andy too then? Not just Cissy."

"I'm afraid your future self and Narcissa are out of touch with Andromeda, you don't talk anymore." Bellatrix blinked disbelieving at that, ok her and Andy weren't as close as she and Cissy were, but she'd never cut her sibling out. Her mouth opened to quiz the old Headmaster on the issue but his voice picked up again, preventing her forthcoming questions. "Which is a story for another day, now… It is not just Lord Voldemort that may take advantage of this situation, as I'm sure you could understand… There are a few people who would love revenge against Bellatrix Lestrange, and if they thought they could get to her via you… I fear some would forget you are technically an innocent and try their hand. Which brings me neatly to this… We must keep your identity a secret while you are here, especially from those that mean you harm or seek to exploit you and the situation."

"And how exactly do you mean to do that?"

"I think you already know Miss Black. You'll be taking on a new identity while here as a transfer student… Now, I have taken the liberty of preparing this new identity for you, if we had more time we could have given you an extensive makeover. But alas this has been thrust upon us and I can hardly have you locked up in here for the several days it would take to make you a completely new identity, nor could we send you away for fear someone will be watching."

"Fortunately because of the state of things, people are quite rightly, far too preoccupied with current affairs to notice a new student, especially if we gave you an identity few would pay attention to. I believe what I have come up with will be sufficient enough that people, who might find your looks familiar, won't make the connection." Dumbledore allowed himself a smile as he sat back in his chair, twiddling his thumbs. "While here you will be assuming the name Belladonna, Miss Belladonna Melania."

"Belladonna, I like that." Bellatrix said sweetly, unable to stop herself smiling at that.

"I figured you would appreciate that. But that's not the reason we chose that name, it will be easy to cover any slip ups with a similar name should someone let your real name slip. Miss Granger would you like to fill in Miss Black on the surname you came up with?" Dumbledore's gaze left Bellatrix's, he sought out the Gryffindor girl and gave her an encouraging nod.

Bellatrix turned to look at her, keeping her face impassive as the girl fidgeted and got to her feet. "I… Of course Headmaster." The girl hesitated, taking a few deep breaths Hermione slowly looked over to meet her gaze. "I figured you wouldn't appreciate giving up your family name… So I came up with Melania, it descends from Greek muggle mythology and roughly means, Black."

Bellatrix was slightly taken aback by the girl's suggestion, unsure if she was more thankful for retaining her name somewhat then how offended she was at being branded with a muggle originated name. She stared hard at her, her dark orbs burning into the girl; trying to work out if the girl had been intentionally trying to slight her. Bellatrix barely heard Dumbledore begin talking again while she tried to work out the girl, wondering what was so special about her that her ancestor believed she could help her and her family. "Now I had originally thought about asking you to go round as a muggleborn." At the mention of the word muggleborn, Bellatrix spun round so fast in her seat that she made herself momentarily dazed. Before she could protest as loud as possible, Dumbledore once again silenced her with a gesture and picked up where he left of. "But, Miss Granger rightly reminded me that you'd have little knowledge of the Muggle world, having being raised in a pure blood family and wouldn't know enough to keep up the pretence. Now you attended Beauxbatons Academy of Magic…"

From there the Headmaster spent the next half an hour giving her all the information she would need to keep up this _foolish_ pretence, as her mind kept referring to it as he spoke. She reluctantly sighed knowing that while being foolish, it was necessary, for once she had gotten into a tricky situation that she had no hope of getting out of without help. Help that begrudgingly she had to admit could only be found with the knowledgeable and powerful Headmaster, if he helped her half as much as he used to help out the mudbloods in her time, then her wellbeing was in good hands, even if she would never admit that out loud. And so after acknowledging that regretful fact to herself, she spent the time inquiring about the details he was giving her, picking some apart and trying to get some say in her new background.

"Now since you have family here in Slytherin, to avoid complications as well as other reasons, you cannot be placed there." Dumbledore went on to say as he turned the conversation away from her new background and to her role at Hogwarts. "And seeing as these three know who you are and the fact that Morgan le Fay believed Miss Granger here could help you, it would make logical sense to place you in Gryffi-"

"No! No way!" Bellatrix interrupted loudly with a disgusted look on her face. "I will not be a stinking lion! The shame of being the first Black in Gryffindor would be unbearable!"

"I'm afraid you have little choice if you wish to remain safe, and besides, you aren't a Black Miss Melania, and even if you were, you wouldn't be the first Black to be placed in Gryffindor. Sirius was placed in Gryffindor when he attended." Dumbledore said slightly more sternly as he shook his head. "Now please, let me finish." He stood up and beckoned for her to follow him, which she did after a moment's pause then was led to the group of Gryffindors. "Professor McGonagall will give you your timetable in the morning. Now since they know who you are, they will be acting as your guides so believe more formal introductions are in order."

"Guides? I'm sure I know the school better than them, so what you really mean is they are my guardians!" She snapped with an annoyed tone of voice, already hating the fact she was going to be lumbered with them. '_This won't last long; I'll soon ditch them, if I don't have them running in fear.'_

Dumbledore ignored her remark and gestured to each of the lions in turn. "Miss Belladonna Melania meet, Mr Harry Potter, Mr Ronald Weasley, and Miss Hermione Granger."

Both the boys made no effort to approach her, the redhead acknowledged her with a nod of his head, while Harry stared hard at her with a look of hate on his face, and after what Dumbledore had said about the war, she could see why he might dislike her. The girl shifted nervously and approached her, holding out her hand. "It's nice to meet you Bellatr… Belladonna." Hermione smiled faintly while looking at her with large warm chocolaty brown eyes.

Bellatrix looked at her outstretched hand and folded her arms childishly. "Granger. Not a name I've heard until recently, so you can't be a pure blood… What are you?" Her tone was cold and hard as her eyes narrowed on the girl, who grew slightly paler as she withdrew her hand.

Harry stepped forward, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder and pulled her back gently. "She's a muggleborn, and I'm a half-blood. You got a problem with that?!" He snapped angrily as he got closer to her.

With a dangerous smirk, she leant forward and whispered in his ear. "I'll let you know later." Pulling back she pulled at all three. "A pleasure to meet you all."

Before Harry could respond, Dumbledore intervened. "Well now that introductions are done, there is one thing left to do before you join the school."

"There's more?!" Bellatrix sighed, she couldn't wait to get to bed soon, all this information was clogging her brain and making her incredibly drossy.

"Just one. As you probably know, trying to use what you've learnt here today to shape the future, will have disastrous consequences for all, it will never go the way you intend. But everyone can be reckless and say things they shouldn't, so as a precaution we'll be making the unbreakable vow-"

"What! Is that how much you trust me? So much for caring about my wellbeing! Now you want me to die if I should say the smallest thing!"

"Only to the wrong people. As much as I don't want to do this, it is necessary." Dumbledore reached out and lightly rested a hand on her shoulder, trying to reassure her like he did before but she wasn't having it this time and shrugged him off.

"No. I'm not doing it. You can't make me take the vow!" Bellatrix snapped after she stood back glaring.

Dumbledore surprised her by giving her a small smile; his eyes twinkled behind his spectacles as he toyed with his beard. "You're right, I can't, nor would I… However, I can't let you loose with all that information without some guarantee it will be kept safe. If you do not agree, I'm afraid I'll have to wipe your memory and keep you locked up in a safe house until you can be sent back."

Bellatrixs face grew dark as she masked her surprise at the underhanded tactic the supposed noble Headmaster had resorted to. "Is that so… Humph!" She spat out. Bellatrix never was one to follow rules, and always broke them… Now he wanted to enforce a permanent set of rules on her that would result in her death if she broke them? Worst thing was, she knew she'd have to accept them or suffer the fate he had in mind, either way she would be trapped and imprisoned one way or another. But she couldn't help her family if she was sealed in a room with no knowledge to what was going on, surely a couple rules, depending on what they were, was a good enough price to pay for saving the Black family? She pondered this for a few moments before letting out a sigh of defeat. "Fine… What are the vows?"

"Come." He said softly as he held out his arm, sighing once more, Bellatrix approached him slowly, cautiously making the physical contact as she wrapped the fingers of her right hand around his right wrist, trying not to cringe when her fingers brushed against his charred skin and when his blackened digits wrapped around her own wrist. "Professor McGonagall would you be so kind as to be our bonder?"

McGonagall rose from her seat after nodding and moved a few paces towards them, pulling out her wand as she did so. The older witch looked from her to Dumbledore, after giving McGonagall a nod to begin; she pointed the tip close to their linked hands, she traced the wand through the air in an elegant pattern then turned to look at Bellatrix. "Miss Black, do you vow not to tell anyone about what you've learnt here today and what you will learn, when you go back, until after the first wizarding war?"

Bellatrix stared at her, as surprise as she was confused at the wording of that vow. '_Until after the first wizarding war? Why not ever…' _A crease formed across her brow as she tried to work out what she meant, fully aware of everyone watching and waiting. '_Oh… Because I'll be in Azkaban… She's giving me the illusion of some freedom… But that's all it is, an illusion, by the time I'm free that knowledge would be useless, it gives the same result as saying never.' _Rolling her eyes, she answered lowly. "I do." A bright fiery wisp slipped from the tip of McGonagall's wand and entwined its way gracefully around their linked hands.

"And do you vow, when you go back, never to act on what you know to change the course of the first wizarding war?"

That one didn't surprise her, she expected something like that but she did notice the choice of wording again. '_Never to act on what I know… But nothing about not acting… They're giving me room to make a choice; I can't make the war worse using what I know… But I can make it better using what I know by not acting… Clever…' _She was half tempted to reject that vow because of the underhanded manipulation but in the end decided to accept. "I do." A second wisp emitted itself from the witch's wand at Bellatrix's acceptance and joined the first around their hands.

"Last of all, when you return, do you vow not to seek out and harm, those that have played a significant role in delaying the You-Know-Who's return to power and continue to oppose him even now?"

That vow was simple, judging from what Dumbledore had told her, she knew just who Professor McGonagall meant and looked over at the pack of young lions. Clucking her tongue against her teeth, she met each other their gazes, twitching her lips up into a snarl before nodding. "I do." A third flaming twine sealed the latest vow. McGonagall slowly lifted her wand away and all three threads burned brightly for a moment before fading away.

"Wonderful, now with that sorted you're all set to join the school." Dumbledore said warmly as he released his grip. "I do believe its dinner time and no doubt you're all hungry. You'll be sharing a dormitory with Miss Granger here, so after you've had something to eat she can show you where you'll be sleeping. A trunk with clothing and supplies will be waiting for you there… Now just one tiny alteration to make." Pulling out his own wand, the Headmaster pointed it at Bellatrix and flicked it silently. Looking down, Bellatrix made a gagging noise when she saw the reds and yellows of Gryffindor on her uniform.

"Great…" Bellatrix muttered sourly, her eyes fell upon her wand on the Headmaster's desk. "Can I have my wand back now _sir_?"

"Oh I almost forgot." Dumbledore pulled a second wand from his robe and held it out to her. "Your wand is unique Miss Melania, and very recognisable by some, combine that with your looks and you'll have a hard time passing off your new identity without raising questions. This one however will still serve you well, 12 ½ inches, made of wood from a cherry tree, dragon heartstring core."

Bellatrix took it slowly, her fingers stroking it slowly as she got a feel for it, she could feel the power vibrating under the surface. '_This wand… Is powerful, feels… Right, just like mine.'_ "Thank you sir… But it won't work for me will it? It didn't choose me nor did I win it."

"In some cases that would be true, but if the former owner of a wand gives it away freely, they give their allegiance away with it." He gave her a mischievous smile as she read between the lines. "I'll need to have a talk with certain staff members regarding you. Now I've kept you all here long enough. Miss Melania would you be so kind as to go with your fellow Gryffindors to dinner, I'm sure we'll talk again soon."

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><p><strong>Hermione<strong>

Hermione walked quietly by the side of the two boys, just like her, neither of them knew what to say right now. She kept looking back at the girl in her new Gryffindor uniform who was following silently as she studied her new wand. '_I can't believe Dumbledore would give her his old wand like that… I mean I know he was trying to gain her trust… But still… A powerful wand in her hands...'_ She couldn't deny she was more than abit nervous at being around the pure blood girl and she didn't even want to start thinking about what sharing a dorm with her was going to be like.

But to the girl's credit, she had been surprisingly more cooperative then Hermione would have expected the infamous Bellatrix Black to be, so perhaps she was being too judgemental. '_I mean she only shouted and scream a few times… And smashed up some of Dumbledore's office… Apart from that… She was tamer then what I thought she would be.'_ Hermione wasn't sure if she blamed her for her actions; she did just learn a lot of information that would drive anyone to one extreme or another. '_The way she screamed and choked up about Sirius's death… I didn't expect to see that… None of us did.' _She had actually felt sorry for Bellatrix at that moment, she had always thought they never got on, but perhaps they were once close when Sirius was still a child. '_And I'm sure she looked like she was about to break down in tears once or twice…'_

It didn't bother her much how one minute Bellatrix could go from being grief stricken and dejected, to being venomous and hateful the next. '_I'm not exactly new to having people around me with having mood swings all the time, what's one more?'_ Hermione smiled to herself lost in thought, it took her a few moments to realise Bellatrix was looking straight at her, she turned her head away quickly once their gazes met, a slight blush crept up her face for having been caught staring.

She didn't dare chance a look back until they reached the great hall, not wanting to provoke the dark haired girl by letting her think she had a problem with her. Once in the hall she noticed how Harry and Ron grouped together, a silent indication that neither of them wanted to sit next to her, sighing softly under her breath she turned to face Bellatrix. "Come sit with me, I'll introduce you to my… Our, housemates." She said nervously and smiled shyly, trying to sound more sincere then she was.

Bellatrix merely nodded silently and together they walked down the middle of the hall in between the tables of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Hermione noticed how more than a few heads turned to look at the new student, she hoped dearly that it was because of the girl's beauty rather than because they recognized her. Another blush snuck its way up onto her cheeks for her having just unconsciously acknowledged the girl's attractiveness for the second time in a few hours. She grumbled in annoyance at herself for her inability to keep her bashfulness under control whenever even the slightest and insignificant inappropriate thought crossed her mind. '_Seriously… I can perform spells higher then someone of my age should be able to do, I can stand by my friend's side to fight Death Eaters… But I can't admit someone is attractive without my face turning in a tomato? Just how in Merlin's name is that right! Although… I've never admitted to myself a girl is attractive before…'_

When she reached her normal seat, she pushed aside her frown and her silly thoughts and took her seat next to Ginny, motioning politely for Bellatrix to join her. The dark haired girl seemed unsure of herself at first, looking across the hall and at, what Hermione guessed, was the Slytherin table before rolling her eyes and sitting next to her.

"Hi Hermione, Ron… Harry." Ginny smiled sweetly at Harry, something Hermione sniggered lightly at behind her hand. Others at their table exchanged a few hellos and afternoons with the trio before the female redhead turned to face her, her eyes moving over her to Bellatrix. "Hi… Erm… Err…?" Ginny gave Hermione a confused look, raising her eyebrow up as she silently quizzed her.

"Hi Ginny, guys… This is Belladonna Melania. She's moved back here from Europe, I hope you all help make her feel welcome." She answered her with a smile as she did her part in the pretence. Hermione turned to give Bellatrix a small encouraging smile before gesturing to those around her. "Belladonna this is Ginny Weasley, Ron's sister. That's Dean Thomas, Ginny's... Boyfriend. Seamus Finnigan, Neville… Err Longbottom…" '_Dammit…'_ Hermione silently cursed herself for mentioning Neville to her, especially now Bellatrix knew what she'd end up doing to the Longbottoms. Her eyes quickly moved on to the others around her hoping to draw Bellatrix's attention, whose dark eyes were lingering now on Neville. "Oh and that's Parvati Patil, Fay Dunbar and… _Lavender_ Brown here, they share the same dorm as us." She just about hissed Lavender's name when she got round to her, having recently found she had a dislike for the girl… Well a stronger dislike then before, which was in no way related to Lavender showing an interest in Ron.

Bellatrix nodded slowly, acknowledging the introductions, for a moment she didn't say anything, instead she looked down at her hands and watched her fingers entwine together. When she looked back up she had a look of sheer innocence on her face, her hand moved up to play with the ends of her curls as she tilted her head. "Thank you Hermione, it's a pleasure to meet you all." Bellatrix said sweetly with a tone that would make angels jealous, a shy smile danced about on her lips as she fluttered her eyelashes. Hermione had to bite her tongue to keep a straight face at the act that Bellatrix was putting on. '_Innocent my arse.' _Rolling her eyes she helped herself to a couple roast chicken breasts, some potatoes and vegetables, as well as a goblet of pumpkin juice. Watching and listening closely as Bellatrix took centre stage.

"Belladonna, that's a beautiful name." Ginny said with a small smile, kicking off the conversation.

"Thank you." The dark haired girl replied with a smile which mimicked the redheads.

"Beautiful but deadly." Neville said as he helped himself to a couple of Yorkshire puddings. Bellatrix's head snapped in his direction as Hermione almost choked on the potatoe she had just put in her mouth, her eyes widening in horror as she looked at the boys opposite her. '_Oh Merlin… Surely Neville doesn't know who she is?!' _She gulped down the food in her mouth and with the boys, looked at Neville who was absentmindedly eating his dinner. "What?" He asked without a clue after noticing the looks he was getting from his peers.

Hermione quickly answered before Bellatrix could, just in case she just something rash. "What do you mean Neville?"

"Huh? Oh… I meant… You know, Belladonna? Same name as the Belladonna plant, we studied it in Herbology once, and I'm sure we used it in Potions class before, it's another name for deadly nightshade."

Unable to stop herself letting out a sigh of relief, Hermione smiled and shook her head. "Oh right of course, sorry that completely slipped my mind." She said with a soft laugh and turned back to her pumpkin juice, not failing to notice the amused glint in Bellatrix's eyes. '_That name is well suited… Beautiful but deadly…'_

"What else could you have thought I meant?" Neville asked, not letting the subject drop and apparently still confused as those around him exchanged looks. "Oh… Oh wait, did you think… I… I was saying Belladonna herself was beautiful yet deadly? N… N… No of course not." Hermione couldn't help but cough up her juice at the comment and tried to hide her snigger, along with Ginny. Bellatrix still looked amused, her eyebrow quirked up at Neville. "I… I… Sorry didn't mean that I mean not the deadly part, of course you're beautiful…"

Ginny couldn't contain her laughter anymore and placed a hand on Neville's shoulder. "Smooth Neville, very smooth."

"Why thank you Neville, you flatter me." Bellatrix spoke gently as she leant forward a tad and gave him a sly wink. A cold chill ran down Hermione's spine and she immediately felt guilty knowing that Neville was flirting, or… Attempting to flirt with the girl who would one day, torture his parents to the point of insanity. But she had to hold her tongue, knowing that she couldn't break up what to everyone else, was harmless fun without causing suspicion. '_Perhaps she's not being evil and sadistic by flirting with someone whose life she knows she will ruin. Maybe she's just being polite… Merlin, I'm being far too cynical today, apart from when she was being provoked and when receiving distressing news… She's been ok so far, there's no reason why I can't give her a chance. Dumbledore is, he did say she's not that person yet, so I shouldn't think of her like she is.'_

Apart from those initial thoughts and feelings, dinner went surprising well once the ice was broken. Hermione allowed herself to relax somewhat and tuck into her meal while Bellatrix mingled with those around her, and even Harry and Ron started to relax after a while, although Harry did still give her the odd dark look. Also it seemed Dumbledore had been mistaken about people not really paying attention to a new student, Bellatrix quickly became the centre of attention for those around her, as they bombarded her with questions about herself and where she came from. Some of the questions had related to things that Dumbledore had never mentioned, yet Bellatrix breezed through them with no problems at all. '_She is most definitely a Slytherin at heart; deception is second nature to her.' _It amazed Hermione how quickly Bellatrix had gotten people hooked on her every word as she dazzled both the guys and the girls, using her beauty and charm to captivate her audience. Every now and then Hermione would look over to the staff table to meet either Dumbledore's or McGonagall's gaze, and would give them a reassuring smile to say that it was going well.

"It must be weird for you coming to Hogwarts after going to an all-girl school." Hermione heard Ginny ask as she turned her attention back to the chat going on around her.

Bellatrix smiled and finished taking a sip from her goblet, licking her full red lips slowly and teasingly, a gesture that few people missed, before cocking her head to the side and acting all innocent like. "All-girl school? Beauxbatons isn't an all-girl school, it's mostly an all-girl school but it does have some male students. Most people tend to think its all-girls because boys from mainland Europe tend to go to Durmstrang, unless they are… _Muggleborns. _Durmstrang doesn't accept them but Beauxbatons does." Bellatrix paused briefly to take another sip from her goblet, her eyes darted to the side so fleetingly that Hermione might have imagined it, but she was sure Bellatrix looked at her ominously after mentioning muggleborns. "Anyway, even if it was all-girl, why would this be weird for me?"

Ginny flushed, Hermione covered up a snigger, she had an inkling as to what the redhead meant. "Oh errr… I just meant that… Erm that…"

"That I'm not used to the company of boys?" Bellatrix finished for her as she casually played with her hair, stealing glances at the guys around her. "Believe me Ginny; I'm _very_ familiar with their company." The dark haired girl's tone grew very husky as she practically purred out her response, some of the guys around her grinned and tidied their appearance. Bellatrix however ignored them as she stretched looking at Ginny then back to Hermione, who then surprised her with a wink. "Girls too." Hermione felt herself blush and quickly forced her attention to her plate, Bellatrix laughed lightly at everyone's reactions before changing the topic.

By the time dinner was drawing to an end, she had a crowd of mostly guys and a few girls flocking around her, complimenting her and trying to get to know her better. Hermione sighed and frowned at how easy some of them had been taken in by a pretty face in a skirt, but then she couldn't blame them entirely, Bellatrix was on a full-on charm offensive. '_I mean… I guess I can see the allure, if I was a guy, or was into… Girls, and didn't know who she was… I could see myself in their shoes… I guess…'_ Bellatrix unsurprisingly, appeared to love the attention she was getting as she winked, smirked and giggled away to certain comments and gestures. '_Beautiful but deadly…'_ She reminded herself when she found herself smiling at something Bellatrix said.

"Thank you everyone, you're all making me feel so welcome here at Hogwarts. I was a little… anxious about how things would be, but it seems my worries were ill placed." Bellatrix said with a warm smile as she looked round at her growing audience then tucked at her collar, pulling an uncomfortable face. "I must say… I didn't expect Hogwarts to be this hot… How can you wear these robes and cardigans all day?" She added with a frown.

"You don't have to keep them on Belladonna if you're too hot." Ginny said kindly before frowning at an ogling Dean.

"Oh? You don't? Thanks, that is good to know." With that, Bellatrix slipped off her outer robe before grabbing the bottom of her jumper and pulling it over her head, the blouse she had on underneath got caught on her cardigan and travelled up a fair bit with it, the blouse stopped rising half way up but not before giving those that were looking an eyeful. Several low noises and whistles followed, Hermione turned red as her eyes enlarged at the sight, and she quickly looked away after having just got a glimpse of the dark haired girl's uncovered breasts. "Oh I'm so sorry, I completely forgot about… That." Bellatrix said shyly, Hermione chanced a look to see the dark haired girl looking down with flushed cheeks, the amused glint in her eyes seemed to sparkle brighter.

A chorus of _I don't mind_'s answered Bellatrix and most the guys continued to stare, even Ron and Harry hadn't been completely immune to the near sight. To make matters worse, the way Bellatrix's blouse hung tightly to her body, clearly showed more then was socially acceptable, groaning inwardly, Hermione decided it was her duty as a prefect and as her _guide_ to take action. "I hope you guys don't mind if I steal Belladonna away, I want to show her to Gryffindor tower and her dorm before it gets busy." Hermione said with a small smile as she stood up. "Come with me please Belladonna."

The dark haired girl stared up at her, her face was unreadable and her eyes impassive for a few seconds before she smiled pleasantly. "Of course." Bellatrix stood up slowly and seemed to purposely lean over slowly to pick up her robes and cardigan, once again giving those that were watching a discreet eyeful. "Thank you again guys and girls, hopefully I'll be seeing you around." Giving them one last smile, Bellatrix straightened up and moved beside her. "Ready when you are Hermione."

Hermione nodded and looked over at her friends. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"We'll come with you." Harry said, nudging Ron in the side as he started to stand.

"No no its ok you stay and finish up here, besides you can't help with showing her to the girls dormitory." Hermione stated kindly as she picked up her bag, in truth she didn't want Harry and Bellatrix near each other just yet, especially when no one else was around… At least not until Harry had gotten used to the idea.

After exchanging goodbyes and looking towards the staff table one last time, Hermione beckoned for Bellatrix to follow her. Hermione could feel the eyes of Harry and Ron following her, as well as certain concerned staff as she left the hall with Bellatrix in tow. The dark haired girl remained quiet as they moved through the corridors and headed up to Gryffindor tower, whenever Hermione chanced a look back she caught Bellatrix staring at her, something that was beginning to make her increasingly nervous.

"Sooo… Errr…" Hermione started to say as they climbed the stairs, after having just caught Bellatrix watching her again. "Been to Gryffindor tower before?" She asked with a forced confident tone, hoping to hide her nervousness about being left alone with Bellatrix Black.

"A few times." Bellatrix replied flatly, her dark eyes giving nothing away as to what the girl was thinking or feelings. Hermione smiled and looked away as they neared closer, hiding a gulp as she remembered something Dumbledore said regarding Bellatrix, Slytherin décor and muggleborns clothing. '_Oh great… I've probably just reminded her about whatever Dumbledore was referring to… Might be a good idea to ward my trunk… Just to be on the safe side.'_

After putting her foot in it, Hermione tried to put right her blunder and brought up other perfectly innocent subjects, hoping to cut through the awkward tension… But unlike how she was in the Great Hall, Bellatrix wasn't interested in small talk as she kept her answers short and in some cases a little snappy. Giving up, they continued to walk in silence until they reached the Fat Lady's portrait. "Password?" The plump woman asked as Hermione stepped before her.

"Abstinence." Hermione answered with a slight smirk as the portrait swung open and together they stepped into the quiet common room. A few students were lounging about in the warm room, chatting with each other by the roaring fireplace and generally didn't take much notice as they passed through the room. Bellatrix's face remained expressionless about being in the Gryffindor common room; although Hermione was sure she heard one or two faint hisses at the red and gold décor.

Leading her up the stairs to the girl's dormitory, Hermione showed Bellatrix the room she would be sharing with her and the other girls. "Here we are." She said as she turned around to face the dark haired girl with a smile. Bellatrix nodded and stepped past her without a word as she looked around the room, no doubt taking in the Gryffindor themed room. "The bed by the window is yours, it belonged to another girl but she's… She won't be coming back to Hogwarts…" Hermione added sadly as Bellatrix slowly walked around the room.

Bellatrix moved over to her new bed, her fingers lightly brushed against one of the four posts before she let out a sigh. "I'm sorry Hermione, I know I'm making you uncomfortable, and I know my company was poor, which probably didn't help much." Bellatrix let out another sigh and turned to face her, looking at Hermione with soft dark eyes and an apologetic face. "This…" She gestured around her. "My predicament… It's sunk in…"

'_Wow… Is she apologising to me? A muggleborn? Dumbledore was right; she's not that person yet.' _Giving Bellatrix a genuine smile, she stepped forward towards her own bed and dropped her bag down on the end. "It's perfectly alright; I can't begin to imagine how this is for you… But if you need to talk, I'm always free to lend an ear… And will help you in whatever way I can."

The dark haired eye smiled, mimicking Hermione's action and dropped her robes and cardigan in a pile on her new bed before walking closer to Hermione. "Thank you Hermione." The girl gave her what Hermione believed to be the cutest look she had ever seen, one that bizarrely made butterflies flutter about inside her.

She couldn't help but blush at the look Bellatrix was giving her and at the close proximity of the girl as she invaded her personal space, her sweet scent engulfed her senses. Hermione tried not to look at the girl's full crimson red lips, it scared her how unusually inviting they were, she could feel Bellatrix's heated breath and with it, the additional smell of spearmint added to the girl's already sweet aroma. '_Oh Merlin, she's not is she? She can't be about to kiss me! I should move… Why aren't I moving?'_

Then it happened so fast, she caught the flicker of emotions behind Bellatrix's eyes too late to prevent it as she reeled from the impact, hitting the floor after she stumbled. Her cheek stinging painfully from the blistering backhanded slap Bellatrix had sent her crashing to the floor with, before she could make a move, Bellatrix was on her. Her knee digging into her back, pinning Hermione to the floor, she cried out as Bellatrix's hands grabbed roughly at her hair and pulled sharply.

"Now listen to me mudblood!" She hissed venomously in her ear. "Despite this façade, I am and will forever be a Black, a pureblood… You on the other hand, are filth! If you ever tell me what to do again… I will make your life hell! This is your place! Under those far superior to you, never forget it!" Hermione cried out in muffled pain as Bellatrix released her grip but not before pushing her face hard against the stone floor, she could feel the trickle of blood against her skin.

Her knee dug down sharply into Hermione's back one last time before Bellatrix stood up and moved over to the door. "Well come on muddy! I need to know where the _Gryffindors_ bathrooms are before the stench of filth suffocates me. You are my _guide_, so guide me." Hermione looked up at the dark haired girl who had a maddening smirk playing about on her lips. '_Dumbledore was wrong… And I was wrong to allow myself to think otherwise… Beautiful but deadly, I will not forget that again.'_ She thought angrily as she held back the tears.

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><p><strong>AN:** Hope you enjoyed Chapter 3 :) Who hates me! :O Who thought they were going to kiss? ;) let me know what you think and I'll update soon x


	4. Chapter 4: No Longer The Best?

**A/N**: Thank you to everyone continued to show their support :) Someone asked if this story would eventually be Bellamione and the answer is, yes, most definitely :). I understand not everyone enjoyed ch3, so I hope this one makes up for it ;) Some reviews will be answered at the bottom, enjoy!

Big thanks to **Rose Russo** who beta'd for this chapter :).

**Disclaimer**: The world of Harry Potter and the original storyline are not mine; they belong to J.K. Rowling.

Read, review and most of all… Enjoy!

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><p><strong>Chapter 4: No Longer The Best?<strong>

**Hermione**

After _guiding_ a smirking Bellatrix to the bathroom, she left the deceiving and cruel girl to it and headed back to their dormitory after quickly fixing her appearance. _'I can't believe I fell for that stupid act!'_ Hermione thought angrily as she chucked herself onto her bed with a huff, she was almost as furious with herself as she was with the dark haired girl. She lay there for some time fuming, too irritated to do any homework or even to move and after a while, Lavender and the other two returned from dinner.

After exchanging brief pleasantries and telling them where _Belladonna_ was when they asked, she drew the curtains around her bed and began to change for bed. Sighing to herself, she slowly began to shed her uniform as she listened to the girl's chatting away, it was still early, it couldn't have been any later than half 8. But she was in no mood to face anyone right now for fear she'd say something rash out of anger, it had been a long day and she hoped that a bit of light reading would be enough to help send her to sleep.

She changed into a white tank top and a pair of short light blue shorts after ridding herself of the last of her uniform and slipped into bed. Her current read was still tucked under her pillow from where she had left it the previous night, pulling it out and lighting her wand; she picked up where she had previously left of and began reading _The Dark Arts Outsmarted_.

'_One of the most dangerous and difficult shield charms a caster has at their disposal is the Propulsant Charm. Pronounced Pro – Puls – Ant, which means To Deflect. The Propulsant Charm, as the meaning suggests, is a shield designed to deflect a hostile spell at the original caster with double the speed and spell intensity. It is widely known as the Tie Breaker as either a successful or unsuccessful Propulsant Charm usually can end a match between anyone but the greatest of witches and wizards._

_However the charm is very rarely utilized due to its complex nature and great difficulty. The Propulsant Charm requires the utmost precision timing, to use Propulsant successfully the caster must cast the charm the exact second the hostile spell is about to connect with the target. A split second too early or too late and the charm will fail. An unsuccessful Propulsant Charm will nearly always result in the casters defeat, hence why in serious life or death situations the Protego Charm will always be favoured as the most reliable and safest defense._

_Timing is also not solely reliant on the casters skill, but the caster also must master their emotions too, only those whose minds are in a complete state of serenity will be able to sense when the timing is right. It is widely believed that due to the peaceful and calm nature required to cast a successful Propulsant that dark witches and wizards are unable to produce the charm, as Propulsant can only be manifested by the exact opposite forces of those required by the dark arts._

_Despite all of its con's, the difficulty involved and the suicidal nature, the Propulsant Charm is a valuable tool for those who are capable of mastering it, especially against the dark arts. Out of all defences, it is one of the greatest ways to outsmart the dark arts. Down below are the wand movements required to cast Propulsant, note that the Propulsant Charm should never be casted non-verbally by those inexperienced with it.'_

Frowning to herself at the supposed difficulty, Hermione began practising the wand movements until she heard Bellatrix's voice and froze. The dark haired girl seemed to be talking _kindly_ to their dorm mates; she heard footsteps walk close by her bed, they paused momentarily before heading over to where the bed by the window would have been. Glaring darkly at her curtains and in the direction of where Bellatrix was mostly likely to be, she slammed the book shut and shoved it under her pillow before laying down.

"Nox." She whispered as she put out her light. Pulling the covers around her tight, she listened to the voices and the laughter, mostly to Bellatrix's before her eyes began to droop and shut.

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><p>A noise piecing Hermione's ears had her eyes snapping open and her hand reaching for her wand. She looked around blindly in the darkness, for the best part, the dorm was mostly silent. She had no idea what time it was but from the near lack of sounds she guessed everyone was fast asleep, or at least nearly everyone. Someone was moving about and Hermione had a good guess who.<p>

Curiosity got the better of her as she sat up slightly, not daring to light her wand, she slowly reached over to her curtains and lifted them partially so she could have a peek.

The dorm was almost pitch black, the only source of light keeping the room being cloaked in complete darkness was the moonlight that was shining through their large window. And sitting by that window, with her knees pulled close to her chest, was Bellatrix. The dark haired girl was resting the side of her head against her knees as she stared out of the window, shivering as she wore nothing but a small black nighty and a pair of dark underwear. Hermione watched her for some time, listening to the girl's strained breathing, she sounded… Upset, almost like she was crying, or at least had been.

Part of Hermione wanted to say something, to reach out and comfort the girl. She wasn't a cruel person; she knew that Bellatrix had learnt some distressing information in the last few hours and Hermione took a guess that she must have been reflecting on it now that she believed she was alone. But then she remembered how Bellatrix had turned on her in the blink of an eye earlier and resisted the urge to comfort her. Her decision wasn't made out of spite, she just believed the girl wouldn't appreciate the gesture and that she would overact and turn hostile to compensate for _looking weak_ in front of someone like her.

Sighing inwardly and feeling horrible about herself regardless, she took one last look at the girl who was silently sobbing, before letting go of the curtain and going back to sleep with a heavy heart.

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><p>The next morning Hermione was woken up by the sound of people complaining and getting ready for the day ahead. Yawning to herself, she stretched and arched her back before gently kicking the covers of herself.<p>

Slipping sleepily of her bed, she pulled out her trunk and found a clean set of uniform before chucking it on hastily. Once she was modest, she pulled open her curtains only to be greeted with the sight of Bellatrix's bare legs stretched out in the air, a sight which apparently her eyes couldn't tear themselves away from.

She couldn't help but notice the way that the morning light caught on Bellatrix's long and slender pale legs, while the dark haired slowly pulled on a pair of knee high black socks as she hummed away. Her eyes followed Bellatrix's hands as they pulled up the last sock over her elegant ankle, then slowly up along her shapely leg to her knee. After that her eyes continued on without Bellatrix's hands, sweeping slowly along her thigh and came to a halt at the curves of the girls rear. A sight that she was unable to stop herself blushing at, a blush that only burned brighter when a cough caught her attention and she was forced to look away and up at the dark eyes of Bellatrix.

"Well good morning Hermione." The pureblood said with a husky tone and a sly grin. "Enjoying the view?" She asked cheekily and winked at her as she slowly lowered her legs.

"Mor… Morning Belladonna." Hermione replied nervously, trying to casually grab the sideboard and keep herself propped up when she felt herself go weak at the knees. "Sorry was completely lost in thought." She added politely, trying to remain civil and kind for the benefit of the other girl's still in their dorm.

Bellatrix stared at her, none of the malice or contempt that she saw last night was anywhere to be seen on the girl's face. "Of course you were." The girl chuckled softly before bending over, which Hermione was convinced she did on purpose, in front of her to retrieve a skirt.

Mentally chastising herself as she turned even redder, Hermione turned away and finished getting ready. '_For Merlin's sake! Why am I blushing so hard! It's not like I haven't seen other girl's half naked before, I do share a bathroom with them after all… So why am I blushing at the sight of her! Stupid, stupid body!'_ Hermione sighed, the last thing she wanted to do was give the devious girl the wrong impression, she would only twist it and use it to her advantage somehow if she believed Hermione liked… Girls, which she swore adamant she didn't. She had nothing against girls who did, it just was never something that appealed to her. At the most she could admit another girl being attractive… However this was the first time she found herself admiring, so very hungrily, another girl's body.

Mumbling under her breath she picked up her bag and turned to wait for Bellatrix to finish getting ready, knowing that she'd have to escort the _new_ girl to breakfast. She forced her eyes to remain above the girls shoulders as she finished slipping her skirt on and pulling on her robe. The image of her bare legs and curvy rear kept flashing in the forefront of her mind and it took several attempts to force the mental images away as the girl approached her.

"Ready." She stated cheerily. Hermione forced a smile and nodded before turning on her heels and leading the dark haired girl out of the dormitory. She led her down the stairs swiftly, not wanting to be put in a position where they'd be alone, not after last night. She had planned on telling the boys and perhaps Professor McGonagall too about last night, but after seeing her upset during the night she had changed her mind. By no means did she trust the girl nor had she forgiven her, but she did feel somewhat sorry for her. Hermione felt it would be cruel to cause trouble for her so soon after what Dumbledore had told her, so she decided that just this once… She'd let it slide. But her eyes were now open; she wouldn't forget who she was deep down, what the girl was capable of and would remain ever vigilant.

"Morning Harry. Morning Ron." Hermione said when they reached the common room, strolling over to the boys and giving each one a brief hug. The boys returned her good mornings and after a short awkward moment, Bellatrix swapped pleasantries with them too, which they returned civilly, even if Harry's was through gritted teeth.

The boys gathered their stuff and together all four of them headed for the portrait, they were just about to leave when they were stopped by a familiar voice. "Hey wait up." Ginny called out, Hermione looked back to see the smiling redhead girl bidding farewell to Dean before walking over to them. "Morning." Ginny said with a smile, which grew when her eyes fell on Harry. Something Hermione didn't miss and chuckled lightly at.

"Morning Ginny." They all replied in turn, Harry of course replied the happiest of them all as they all then left the common room.

"So Belladonna how was your first night at Hogwarts?" Ginny asked as she moved to stand beside the dark haired girl.

"Had a little trouble getting to sleep, but that's to be expected I suppose." Bellatrix replied with a shrug, Ginny gave her a small smile and nodded before engaging in small chat with the dark haired girl, the pair of them slowly fell back behind the trio as they gossiped.

Hermione gave them a fleeting glance before keeping pace with the boys, both of them kept looking at her questionably, as if they were promoting her to say something. "What?" She asked lowly when they looked at her for the fourth time without a word.

"Is everything ok?" Harry asked.

"Nothing happen with her did it?" Ron added after his best friend.

She bit her lip as she considered how to answer them, should she be honest like she had originally planned on being? Hermione glance around them at the other students passing by, if she told them there and then, they would kick off in full view. Sighing to herself, Hermione shook her head slowly. "No, she was surprisingly quiet. She even thanked me for my help." _'Before she whacked me one.' _Hermione nearly added before giving the boys a reassuring smile.

The boys exchanged a glance before nodding their acceptance of her answer to her, the suspicion and doubt regarding Bellatrix was fainter then it previously was, but it was still there. _'Good, don't make the same mistake I made.'_ Of course she couldn't tell them that, she just hoped that their naturally suspicious nature, especially when regarding Slytherins, would keep them alert.

Once they arrived at the Great Hall for breakfast, the boys once again sided with each other, leaving Hermione to sit with Bellatrix, somehow she got the idea this might have now become the norm. Breakfast went smoothly enough; Hermione had helped herself to a couple slices of buttered toast, a banana and a glass of orange juice as she listened to what went on around her. Bellatrix was largely the same as she was last night only she had toned it down a little, particularly when it came to the flirting. They hadn't been seated long when Professor McGonagall walked briskly over to them.

"Your timetable Miss Melania." The stern deputy announced as she handed Bellatrix her timetable, Hermione suppressed a groan when she saw it was an exact duplicate of hers. Bellatrix thanked her sweetly enough before the Professor nodded, she briefly caught Hermione's eye and for the second time that morning, Hermione found herself giving someone a fake reassuring smile.

"Double Potions followed by double Defence Against the Dark Arts after break and a double study period after. " Bellatrix said to herself, studying the timetable after McGonagall had left, both boys simultaneously groaned at the reminder. "An easy day, my last timetable was much more full on."

Harry scoffed in response. "See if you say that after two hours with Snape."

"Yeah he's a right greasy haired git." Ron added as he nodded towards the staff table. "He's the one with long black greasy hair and black robes."

Bellatrix looked past Hermione to follow Ron's gaze, Hermione nibbled slightly on her toast, slightly surprised at the boys interacting with Bellatrix, it was the first time either had made noticeable contact with her. And not just that, but both of them lacked the hostility they had last night, she frowned to herself, not knowing if she was happy about that. "Does he always look like he has a wand stuck up his arse?" Bellatrix asked after a moment silence. Hermione almost chocked on her toast as people around her including the boys laughed at the remark and she tried hard not to snigger herself, but she still managed a small smirk.

The morning post arrived near the end of breakfast and with it a sombre mood fell upon the hall, most of the chatter died down as students unravelled their copies of the Daily Prophet and saw the front page. Hermione grimaced upon hearing small snippets; she picked up hers and undid the twine, rolling out the paper so she could see for herself. A picture of Bellatrix Lestrange was on the front under the articles heading, Hermione stopped herself looking at the young Bellatrix while she quickly skimmed over the article.

Death Eaters, led by Bellatrix had terrorized a rural muggle area, burning down homes, torturing and killing the inhabitants.

Hermione threw the paper down in disgust, not knowing what to say, she didn't dare look at Bellatrix or Harry and Ron for fear someone would slip up. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Bellatrix pick up her paper and read it for herself, after a few minutes of reading in silence, she folded it and placed it back down, not saying a word as her face remained unreadable. People were muttering in anger and fear around them, Hermione could feel the thick tension in the air around her, it was intoxicating, the knowledge that Bellatrix was in their midst was suffocating her.

She couldn't stay a second longer; she stood up and grabbed her bag. Both the boys seemed to have the same idea and followed suit, she chanced a look down at Bellatrix, not daring to tell her what to do again, but she wanted to see if the dark haired girl needed to escape too. However the girl's gaze remained fixed on the table, her face was hard and her jaw tight. Hermione knew she should offer to show her to class as her guide, but she didn't trust her tongue at the moment. Instead she frowned and nodded to the boys, the three of them left in silence as they headed towards the dungeons.

* * *

><p>They reached Professor Slughorns class early, taking her seat in between the two boys, Hermione pulled out her book. Her mind was lost in thoughts about Bellatrix, the pureblood had given nothing away in her silence, her face and eyes had remained expressionless. <em>'I wonder what she was thinking… Was she pleased? Was she upset? It's one thing to… Bully and give people a hard time, but it's another to kill… Is she at that stage yet? To be able to kill… Was she feeling remorse over her future self's actions?'<em> Hermione was starting to regret leaving the girl on her own, she should have checked to see if she was ok.

Hermione debated going back to get her, to check up on her, but the bell signalling the end of breakfast and the start of classes told her it was too late. Sighing she shook her and waited for the rest of the class to turn up. After a few minutes, her classmates had finished arriving barring Bellatrix. _'She knows the way, I'm sure she'll be along any minute…' _She thought guiltily as Professor Slughorn entered the class, moving to the front of the room to his blackboard and began writing.

"Morning class." The slightly larger than average Professor said merrily as he rocked on his heels, his eyes swept over his students and his smile grew when they settled on his star pupil, Harry. "Today we'll be brewing a particularly difficult potion, so could you all turn to page 72 in your textbooks please."

The sound of books opening and flickering open filled the once silent classroom, Hermione naturally found the page first. _'Burn Bane'_ her eyes took in the content of the page, feeling slightly pleased at the challenge that lay ahead. "We'll be attempting to brew Burn Bane, now as you might have guessed from the name. Burn Bane is a burn treatment, but who can tell me what sets it apart from other burn treatments?" Professor Slughorn asked as his eyes remained on Harry, obviously expecting him to have the answer. But he didn't raise his hand nor utter a word; instead he just looked blankly at the Professor with the rest of the class. Smirking slightly to herself at the fact that the _Half-Blood Prince_ couldn't help him here, Hermione raised her hand. "Miss Granger?"

Smiling, she held her head high as she lowered her hand. "Burn Bane, or Urit Lues, is the only remedy and treatment to burns both externally and internally, caused by dark magic and dark creatures. It is also used to treat burns inflicted by some variety of Dragons."

"Excellent Miss Granger, 10 points to Gryffindor." Slughorn said cheerfully as he turned back to his blackboard and continued writing. "As Miss Granger said, Burn Bane is the only burn treatment for burns caused by dark means, such as Fiendfyre. Ironically the main ingredient in Burn Bane is fire itself, or to be more precise, Liquid Fire. One of the most volatile-"

Slughorn was interrupted by the sound of his classroom door opened; Hermione looked around with most the class to see _Belladonna_ standing in the doorway. _'Her eyes look a little… Red… Has she been crying?'_ Hermione thought as she looked at the girl, her eyes did look a little puffy but maybe Hermione was imagining things; however that didn't stop the stab of guilt that struck at her for selfishly leaving the girl all alone. "Sorry I'm late Professor, I got lost." Bellatrix said almost shyly as she looked down at the floor.

"Ah you must be Miss Melania? Come in my girl." The Professor said with an anxious voice, his tone suggested that Dumbledore had had words with him about Belladonna's identity. Bellatrix smiled slightly at the Potions master and closed the door behind her before heading over to the spare seat not far from Hermione. "I thought you had been assigned a guide? Ah well it doesn't matter, don't worry about it. It's good to have you join us."

"Thank you Professor." Bellatrix said sweetly as she sat down and pulled out her book.

"It's Belladonna Melania right?" Slughorn asked as he watched her carefully, Bellatrix gave a small _yes sir_ in reply. Slughorn looked like he was about to mention something regarding her name, but instead turned back to his blackboard. "You haven't missed much Miss Melania, turn to page 72 please; we're going to look into Burn Bane today." Slughorn paused as he scribbled a note on his board. "Now as I was saying, Liquid Fire is the key component, it is also a highly dangerous one. Liquid Fire is taken from the glands of the same variety of Dragons whose burns can only be treated with Burn Bane. If utmost care is not used when utilising it, the brewer will suffer the very burns their potion is meant to treat, which is why I have a brew already prepared just in case."

Slughorn turned to look at his class, his eyes once more falling to Harry as he asked his next question. "Can anyone tell me how Burn Bane is best applied for external burns?" Hermione's hand darted up, but it wasn't her that caught the Professor's attention. "Miss Melania?"

"Thank you sir. Despite having the properties of an oral treatment, Burn Bane is best applied directly to the burnt area, but only if the burnt area is still either hot or warm and the skin tender. If applied as soon as possible after an incident, Burn Bane will nullify all pain and completely restore the burnt area, leaving no blemishes or scaring." Bellatrix paused for a moment; Slughorn nodded happily and was about so speak when she carried on. "However for external burns that have been allowed to set or if too much time has elapsed before treatment can be administered. Then Burn Bane will have little to no effect if applied directly, it then can only be treated by consuming Burn Bane. But it's far less effective and there is a moderate chance of blemishes and scaring remaining after treatment."

"Well done Miss Melania, a perfect answer! 15 points to Gryffindor." Slughorn beamed as he turned to scribble more notes. Hermione however was less than pleased. _'15 points? I only got 10! My answer was perfect too!_' She thought childishly, she should have been happy as it just meant more points to Gryffindor, but for some reason she couldn't help but feel a little jealous. She had always been the top student, the one who got the points and high praise for questions answered in class. Harry's latest successes with Potions didn't count since he was getting aid from another source she thought bitterly, before turning her attention back to what Slughorn was now saying.

Hermione scribbled down notes on a bit of parchment as the Professor finished explaining the process involved in making the potion and moved over to a large hourglass. "You have one hour to brew the potion, after which I'll be testing them on you." He chuckled softly at the looks he got then turned the hourglass. "Begin."

"He's going to test them on us?!" Ron whispered as he moved close to Hermione. "He's bonkers I tell you!" He muttered, Harry nodded beside her and after that both of them barely spoke, the incentive of getting burnt by Slughorn and using the Liquid Fire poorly kept everyone engrossed on the lesson. Slughorn moved around the class, putting a vial of Liquid Fire on each of their desks as students started to get what they needed.

Hermione waited for most of the class to collect their ingredients before she got up and headed over to the cabinet to get what she needed. Bellatrix seemingly had the same idea of waiting and headed up at the same time, Hermione gave her a fleeting glance as they both rummaged for what they needed. _'Her eyes are definitely puffy…'_ She thought as Bellatrix caught her looking, her eyebrow rose up as she silently probed her for a reason for the look she was giving the dark haired girl. "You ok?" She asked Bellatrix as she politely handed the girl a small flask of Honeywater.

"Thank you." Bellatrix took the flask from her gently, as Bellatrix's fingers brushed softly against hers, a warm tingling sensation moved though out her body, a sensation that felt oddly pleasing. As Bellatrix smiled, she wondered if the girl had felt it too. "I'm fine thanks, why do you ask?" Bellatrix cocked her head to the side and looked directly at her.

"You look… Well… Sort of upset." Hermione asked nervously as she grabbed a small tuff of Manticore hair.

Bellatrix stared at her for a few moments before smiling and shaking her head.

"No I'm fine, but thanks for asking." A warm smile grew as she turned back to the cabinet and picked up two vials of Salamander blood, handing one politely to Hermione. Again the same pleasing sensation tickled at her as their skin brushed ever so lightly against each other. Feeling herself blush, Hermione muttered a quick thanks before returning to her station. _'That was… Weird…'_

Filling her cauldron with the base ingredients, her mind kept turning back to Bellatrix. The girl was back to being sweet and kind, but that had to be because they were in public and yet, the kindness in her eyes looked genuine. _'She's a fantastic performer… I'm not forgetting what happened, no matter how sweetly she smiles or how nice her touch is…'_After letting her mind ponder a little longer, she let out a small sigh before pushing Bellatrix from her mind and turning her full attention to the potion.

Turning up the heat, she slowly poured in a portion of her mixture of Salamander blood and Honeywater and began stirring it clockwise seven times and then anticlockwise the same amount of times. A process she had to repeat for the next half an hour almost, apart from the occasional comment, the class was largely silent of human sounds, only the bubbling of the potions and the sound of the liquid slushing about when it was stirred broke the silence. Even the boys were concentrating hard; Harry was flickering through the _Half-Blood Prince's_ copy, while Ron kept watching what she was doing. No one seemed to be eager to get burnt, well… One person wasn't concentrating quite as hard.

Bellatrix was humming slightly to herself not far from her; Hermione chanced a look back to see the dark haired girl casually stirring her potion. She wasn't even paying attention to it as she lazily looked around the room. When her dark orbs swept over to Hermione, she smiled when they gazes met then tilted her head towards her potion. Hermione blinked in confusion before turning back to look at what Bellatrix had been motioning too; she had overdone the clockwise stirring motion while not looking, groaning to herself she mentally scolded herself for getting distracted.

Ten minutes later, most of the class were ready to start adding their Liquid Fire. A feat that most looked very anxious about doing, everyone seemed to be waiting for someone else to go first, and even Hermione wasn't particular looking forward to this part. One slight slip would ruin her hard work. An angry sizzling behind her drew most of the class's attention, Hermione turned to watch as Bellatrix added the Liquid Fire. The girl didn't look the least bit concerned as she added another drop, again the potion sizzled furiously, smiling to herself, Bellatrix allowed the sizzling to die down before adding the last drop.

Slughorn strolled over and peaked down at her brew; his face lit up and practically bounced with pride. "Wonderful! Simply wonderful, I dare say I couldn't have made a more perfect remedy." Picking up a ladle, he scooped up a sample of her mixture and poured it into a shallow bowl. "Hold out your hand please my dear." He asked politely, Hermione watched as Bellatrix obeyed without hesitation. The Professor drew his wand; he pointed it at her palm and muttered a spell which burnt at a small section of her skin, apart from a minor hiss, Bellatrix showed no display of discomfort. Putting his wand down, he pulled out a small cloth and dabbed it in the sample of Bellatrix's potion, then wiped it over the burn. Slughorn stared for a few moments then his face brightened up even more as the burn completely healed and vanished. "Perfect! Oh well done Miss Melania. I think you deserve another 10 points for your house for finishing first and brewing such a perfect sample of Burn Bane."

"Thank you sir." Bellatrix replied proudly then began packing away her desk after being given Slughorn's permission.

Spurred on by _Belladonna's_ success, the rest of the class gained some confidence and started to slowly add their fiery component, which seemed to go poorly for most, but luckily not disastrous. Ron hurried to do his, hoping to get it out of the way quickly, he added his three drops too quickly without giving his potion a chance to cool down between each one, which resulted in a sharp lick of fire spooking him and ruining his potion. Harry's went just as bad, he timed the first two drops well but grew too nervous and shakily added two drops in quick succession instead of one final drop, the result being a puff of black smoke blowing in his face.

Trying to hide her amusement at Harry's now black face as he coughed lightly, she turned and prepared herself for hers. _Drip_. Went the first drop followed by the potion sizzling. _Drip_. Went the second drop after it had cooled down, then she went to add a third.

But something nudged her hard in the back, caught by surprise and off guard, Hermione was pushed forward, her hand accidently emptied the remainder of the Liquid Fire into her potion. Blistering flames lashed out from the surface of her potion, the fiery prongs struck her, scorching her cheek before she could react. She cried out in agonizing pain as the boys quickly grabbed her shoulders and pulled her away from the blazing cauldron, her hand instinctively came up to cradle her cheek, only to make it worse when she touched the burnt area.

Her eyes began to swim with tears, the painful sensation eating up the side of her face was unbearable, she could faintly see through misty eyes the Professor panicking as she tried to uncork his own brew of Burn Bane. "Move!" A sharp voice said to Ron, she faintly saw Ron being roughly pulled away before a hand grabbed her shoulder and turned her around. Bellatrix was standing in front of her, when her hand started to come up Hermione cringed away, at that time not understanding what she was going to do. But she couldn't stop her, and then she felt something warm and creamy against her cheek.

Almost instantly the pain started to clear away and as it vanished, understanding dawned on her. Bellatrix had the small bowl in her hand with the sample she had made, her other hand was dabbing the cloth delicately against her cheek; she dipped it back in the bowl before applying more of the remedy to other areas of her face.

Bellatrix pulled away slowly, she had a worried expression etched on her face, her eyes narrowed as they swept over her face before nodding and putting the bowl down. "How do you feel Hermione?" She asked softly.

Hermione blinked in bewilderment, not only confused at what happened, but even more confused at how Bellatrix rushed to her aid. "I… I feel fine… I think… Thank you…" Answered Hermione softly as she looked up into Bellatrix large dark orbs, the worried look on her face faded and a warm smile replaced her frown, before she then stood up and made way for Slughorn. _'She helped me… Why?'_

"Oh Miss Granger, are you ok?" The Professor asked as he checked her over, Hermione nodded in reply, _'Just confused.'_ Her hand came up and slightly touched her cheek, it still felt warm but that was about it. Her fingers softly traced her skin but she found no marks, no areas that were painful of sensitive to touch. She continued to feel her way around face until raised voices drew her attention.

"You did that to her!" Ron snapped at Bellatrix.

Bellatrix scoffed with her arms folded. "I tipped over _your_ bag which _you_ had left just lying about in the aisle!" She hissed back in annoyance.

"Yeah right! You must have seen it! You did that it purpose!" He shouted at her, turning as red as his hair as he stepped closer.

"Why would I do that?" Bellatrix shouted back, not shying away from Ron's bigger and more threatening build.

"I think you know why…" He growled out as his hands clenched into fists at his side.

"That's quite enough you two, I'm sure it was a complete accident. This is exactly why bags should remain under the desk Wallenby." Slughorn said with a slightly raised tone, ignoring the sniggering from Draco and the other Slytherins for him getting Ron's name wrong as usual. _'She knocked me? Could she have done it on purpose? And if so… Why did she rush so quickly to help me if it was done on purpose? She could have done nothing and let Slughorn treat me…'_

"Right class dismissed, leave you potions in a marked bowl on my desk and I'll check them later." Slughorn said to the class before turning his attention to Hermione. "I best get you checked out in the Hospital Wing just to be sure Miss Granger, don't want to risk the wrath of Madam Pomfrey." He added with a chuckle.

Hermione bent over slightly to get her bag only to be stopped by Slughorn. "I'm sure Harry won't mind collecting your stuff." Professor Slughorn said softly to her while Harry nodded in agreement behind the Professor.

"Thanks Harry, I'll see you both next lesson." Hermione said with a smile and started off with the bald Professor but stopped when she passed Bellatrix. "Thanks again Bella." Bellatrix smirked and lightly touched her shoulder before Slughorn hurried her along, she threw a quick smile over her shoulder at Bellatrix and the boys before she began to make her way to the Hospital Wing.

* * *

><p>Hermione spent the remainder of the lesson and all of break being fussed over by Madam Pomfrey before the nurse was satisfied that she was perfectly ok. She had almost escaped her clutches when Professor McGonagall turned up, her favourite Professor had a very worried look on her usually stern face as she marched over to her bed.<p>

"Is everything ok Miss Granger?" She asked softly, not hiding the concern in her voice.

She nodded politely in reply. "Yes Professor."

Professor McGonagall looked around the ward and noted it was just the three of them before looking back to meet her gaze. "Do you think Miss Black do this on purpose?" The deputy asked in a low cold tone.

Again Hermione pondered this before answering. "No Professor, I believe it was an accident, she reacted swiftly to aid me, she could have pretended to be mortified and let Professor Slughorn deal with it. But she didn't." She answered honestly, Bellatrix didn't have to help, and she could have easily pretended to have been too shocked. _'Last night she hit me, today she rushes to my aid… Wish she'd make up her mind would be much easily to suss her out then…'_

"And there have been no other incidents?" She asked as if she had just been reading her thoughts.

'_Should I lie? She just helped me, should I repay her by getting her in trouble?'_ Hermione answered her own question and the Deputy by shaking her head. "No, she's been perfectly fine."

McGonagall frowned as she stared at her before sighing and nodding. "Very well. You best get going to class then Miss Granger, I'm sure Professor Snape won't hesitate to deduct points if you're too late."

Nodding to the Professor, Hermione thanked the two older women and hurried on along her way, her hand coming up to briefly stroke her cheek again as she rushed to class.

* * *

><p>By the time she had reached the Defence Against the Dark Arts classrooms she was nearly ten minutes late. Groaning to herself, she knocked on the door and waited for the Head of Slytherins cold hard voice. "Enter."<p>

Hermione opened the door and stepped inside, her eyes sweeping over her classmates to the dark haired Professor at the front. "Sorry I'm late Professor, I was in the Hospital Wing."

"Yes… We've all… Heard about your accident. Go and take your seat, and be quick about it girl!" He snapped before he turned back to his class. Not needing to be told twice, Hermione hurried over to where she usual sat, a familiar black haired girl sitting next to an empty seat silently told her that seating had changed a little. _'Boys…'_ Shaking her head, she quickly retrieved her bag from Harry and after muttering thanks she sat next to Bellatrix.

The girl gave her a quick look and smiled before looking back up at Snape. "Now as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted." Snape paused to sneer in Hermione's direction. "Due to current events… The Headmaster wishes that any double lessons you have with me, to be used to… _Hone_ your duelling skills. And while I feel… Most of you will require more than a little honing to improve your _skills_… It is what we'll be doing today regardless, however… I still wish to see you at least… Attempting _non-verbal_ magic. Stand and move away from your desks." Snape commanded coldly.

With little noise, the class stood and stepped back from their seats. With a flick of his wand, Snape sent their desks and seats over against the wall and arranged them in a neat pile, with another flick everyone's bags piled up in the corner of the class. "Now… Since you are already in pairs… I see no reason to sort you again. Today I'll be observing and taking note while you attempt to defeat your partners. I imagine this will not take… Long. Everyone stand by the wall with your partners… Except Mr Longbottom and Mr Macmillan, you're up first."

Neville looked terrified at the prospect of going first, Harry, Ron, Dean and Seamus all gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder as they passed him. Hermione gave him a small smile and whispered good luck before heading over to the wall with Bellatrix. "Begin." Snape said coldly from the corner of his classroom.

Neville and Ernest did the customary bow before they started their duel. "I bet that git picked on Neville on purpose." Ron hissed in her ear as the pair started their duel. Hermione couldn't argue with Ron's assessment, Snape had always shown a strong dislike for Neville and seemed to love tormenting him. _'Still, it could be worst… At least Ernest isn't a bad guy.'_

The duel, much to Snape's and the Slytherins pleasure, didn't last long. After a few jinxes were exchanged, Ernest managed to hit Neville with a Jelly-Legs Jinx and had Neville collapsing to the floor. "How disappointing." Snape stated flatly before using the counter curse, allowing a red faced Neville to scurry away. "Mr Finnigan and Mr Thomas next."

The next two boys moved up to take their positions and after bowing, began their duel. Hermione watched as two by two, her classmates went up and duelled, some lasted longer than others, but largely they all remained fairly short. Something that Hermione couldn't tell if Snape looked pleased or disappointed about.

"Nervous?" Bellatrix asked quietly in her ear.

Hermione slowly tore her eyes away from Harry and Ron who were the latest pair up, and so far had lasted the longest with both parrying each other's jinxes. "No, you?"

Bellatrix smiled slyly. "Can't wait, I'll try not to hurt you."

"Likewise." Hermione bit back a snigger and smiled. She hoped Bellatrix couldn't tell she was lying, she was nervous, on one hand she didn't want to lose to Bellatrix and on another, she didn't want to beat her. If she lost, Bellatrix might believe her weak and walk all over her if today's kindness had been a very good act. If she won, Bellatrix might take it badly and in turn, take it out on her later. _'Either way this may end badly… May as well show I can stand up for myself. Maybe it will discourage her from striking me if she's playing us all for fools again.'_

She turned back to the duel just in time to see Harry disarm Ron, Snape didn't make a comment, nor did he praise them, he just glared at the boys before looking over to her. "Miss Granger and Miss Melania, you're up next."

Gulping slightly, Hermione withdrew her wand as she moved to one end of the room and turned to face Bellatrix. The pureblood smiled at her and bowed, Hermione quickly returned the gesture before getting readying herself. "Begin." Snape snapped.

Bellatrix carried on smiling, her posture was lazy as she held her wand loosely at her side. She seemed to be inviting her to make the first move. _'Stupefy!'_ Hermione sent her non-verbal stunner at Bellatrix, partly hoping for quick finish to this before it begun, but that hope was in vain as Bellatrix parried it without a word.

With a quick flick, Bellatrix sent her reply effortless and silently. _'Protego!'_ Hermione casted her shield with as little effort as Bellatrix had and blocked her Impediment Curse. She could feel everyone watching her, watching them, it made her feel uneasy, she had always hated being in the spotlight. Taking a deep breath Hermione sent another spell _'Petrificus Totalus.'_ And just like before, Bellatrix blocked it with little to no effort. The dark haired girl just stood there casually, still smiling as she cocked her head to the side. _'What is she doing? It's like she can't be bothered.'_ Hermione thought with a frown.

Or so she thought until she felt a ripple in the air, quickly she raised her shield again, just in time to block a bludgeoning curse. _'I didn't even see that coming! She is distracting me with her casualness.'_ She thought with mild annoyance, she knew she only had herself to blame for not paying closer attention to her wand rather than Bellatrix. Although she couldn't miss what Bellatrix did next, with a flurry of movement and her wand slashing viciously at the air, Bellatrix sent a handful of jinxes and then… Giggled. Her laughter almost distracted Hermione from producing and holding a stronger shield. Different colour bright lights hit her shield, the force of the combined attack made her take a step back.

'_She can't do that! She can't laugh in a fight! People will know its Bellatrix!'_ She stole a quick look at her classmates; none of them showed any signs that something was amiss. _'No of course they wouldn't, why would they? Bellatrix was in the paper today while Belladonna was here… And others joked and laughed in their duel, maybe I'm just being…'_ A flash stopped her line of thought and quickly she blocked another spell. _'Paranoid…'_ Scowling again at being allowed to get distracted, Hermione sent a few of her own jinxes at Bellatrix, who was no longer staying motionless and dropped her casual act; instead she practically danced and twirled as she blocked each one. Without pausing the dark haired girl sent several in return. '_She moves her body so well…'_ Hermione mused as she defended herself, not failing to notice how Bellatrix's dance flapped around which gave her a sneak peek at her slender thighs. '_Stop it Hermione! Watch her wand not her legs!'_

From there it escalated quickly, neither paused to study their opponent as they blocked and sent curses back and forth. Bellatrix seemed to be in her stride as she became increasingly verbal, laughing, grunting and yelling, in Hermione's eyes she was doing everything apart from yelling _'I'm Bellatrix Black'_ at the top of her voice. But no one seemed to notice the connection, _'Maybe it's only because I know who she is that I can make the connection… Guess I'll see what the boys say after…' _Bellatrix laughed again as she sent a strong curse that exploded against her shield. _'Least she's not using Lestranges trademark cackle.'_

Shaking her head free of her paranoia, she concentrated on the match. Beads of sweat were starting to run down her forehead and her wand arm was becoming strained under the now relentless assault. _'I can't keep this up…'_ She though with mild panic, Bellatrix had stepped up her assault and now had Hermione defending herself full time as curse after curse after curse hit her shield with varying intensity.

It wasn't long till her whole body was starting to sweat, her clothes were beginning to cling to her skin, her breath was becoming increasingly heavy and drawn out. She was tiring, she could feel the effects all over her body, and she could barely keep her footing as spells collided with her shield hard. Bellatrix however, seemed perfectly ok, not a single bead of sweat was glistening on her smooth pale skin. _'I can't beat her… Not on the offensive… But maybe…'_ She thought back to the book she had been reading for the past week. _'Maybe I can beat her while on the defensive… Yes.'_

With the idea in her head, she smiled at Bellatrix and readied herself, waiting for the perfect moment. She watched as Bellatrix flicked her wand once more, she felt the rippling sensation in the air coming towards her. _'Perfect timing and a verbal incantation… Ok here goes…'_ Hermione waited until the spell was just about upon her then shouted out. "_Propu-_"

But she never got to finish the spell as the breath was knocked out of her, the sensation of something hard and heavy connected with her stomach. Gasping for breath she fell to her knees, her knees hit the stone floor hard, which gave way to a sharp pain shooting through her legs as one hand clutched at her stomach. She coughed and spluttered as she keeled over on the floor as footsteps approached her, as she looked up she saw someone's black shoes then a pair of long black knee high socks. _'Bellatrix.'_

Bellatrix lent down and grabbed her arm lightly; the dark haired girl bent down slightly and lowered her head so she could whisper in her ear. "Good to see you haven't forgotten your place mudblood." She whispered darkly before standing and pulling Hermione up.

Hermione glared at her, too winded to reply, but even if she could have she was too angry for words. _'I knew it! It was just another act! She managed to get another one over on me! In front of everyone too!'_ The girl let her go and smiled warmly as Harry and Ron came over. "Well… It seems…" Snape's voice drew her attention to the front of the class. "That Miss Granger, is no longer the… _Best_." He said with a smirk, much to the delight of the Slytherin students. Hermione scowled and looked hard at Bellatrix, who was smirking at her from behind the boys. _'You wait Bellatrix, this isn't over… Not by a long shot.'_

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><p><strong>AN:** I'm sure most will want to hurt me for being so mean to Hermione ;) but she'll get her own back soon! Hope you enjoyed Chapter 4 and I'll update soon! X

**LoveSKINS94**: Glad you are enjoying it ^^ and yeah an absolutely perfect alias for her, so lucky to have a name that close to Bellatrix with hidden meanings pointing to her real identity. Hermione will get her own back, especially after this chapter :p

**EagleRay**: Sorry for dashing your hopes ;) but there will be plenty of time for that soon, whether it will be part of Bellatrix's game plan :P that's another matter lol.

**DrunknMunky85**: Lol I can't imagine a young Bella would wish or want her little cousins who wouldn't have even been in their teens dead at that time. Wouldn't have drifted apart until Sirius got to Hogwarts at least. Yep lol poor Hermione, she'll suffer a while longer ;)

**MunkyTerror**: She certainly sounds like she's dabbled with the same-sex before :p Won't answer that ;) but she may do lol. Nah Hermione don't play the submissive here, Bella is still just a student here, not a Death Eater, they are on an even playing ground.

**Randy87M**: I can't imagine Bella being happy if a mudblood gives her a taste of her own medicine ;) things may turn nasty :D.


	5. Chapter 5: Painful Reminiscence

**A/N:** Thank you for all your reviews and feedback :) Sorry for the long delay, work has been hectic, and the summer heat makes concentrating on writing, difficult. Oh and I've start to write my own novel o_o Maybe one day there will be fanfic about that lol. Anyway hope you enjoy CH5 :)

**Disclaimer:** The world of Harry Potter and the original storyline are not mine; they belong to J.K. Rowling.

Read, review and most of all… Enjoy!

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><p><strong>Chapter 5: Painful Reminiscence<strong>

**Bellatrix**

Bellatrix casually clucked her tongue as she sat in the corner of the hideous Gryffindor common room and worked on her essay for Defence Against the Dark Arts. She was feeling very pleased with herself and had a grin on her face as she scribbled away; so far the day had been very productive in terms of making herself known and establishing herself as a very capable and smart student, it was one thing she didn't need to pretend about.

At lunch she had received no end of compliments from _her_ fellow housemates and those from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw about her abilities. Some were genuinely pleased for her, while a few seemed to be secretly glad that someone had outdone the mudblood girl. What they didn't know, on top of everything else about her, was that Bellatrix had already finished and passed the sixth year with flying colours, so to her it didn't seem such a big deal, but she did take pleasure in the fact that her advantage was showing the Granger girl up.

Her grin grew as she recalled how the girl had fallen to her knees before her and the look on her face as Bellatrix reminded Hermione of her place. '_Foolish naïve girl, she should have got the message last night.' _Instead the girl seemed to have decided to give her a second chance and was oddly civil with her. '_Hmm she seems a right teacher's pet. Perhaps that's why. The old fool Dumbledore is putting his trust into me, and maybe because he is, she was trying too also.' _Bellatrix thought back to early morning when she was getting dressed and how she had caught the girl, watching her lower body very carefully. '_Or perhaps the girl see's something she likes and couldn't help but try to get closer to me.' _That line of thought almost caused Bellatrix to laugh out loud, if Hermione did indeed have a thing for her or girls in general, then perhaps she could use that to her advantage at a later date.

She clucked her tongue again as she continued to reflect while working. There was one thing she didn't quite understand though and that was why she had helped Hermione in potions class after the accident, and that's what it had been, an accident. The end result had worked to her advantage; it more than likely helped put the girl in a false sense of security and allowed her to put the brunette in her place once again… But still, it hadn't been intended and not once did it occur to her to use the situation to her advantage at the time, she had just acted on impulse to help the mudblood. '_Why? Why did I help her?' _Numerous possible reasons ran through her mind, but none of them sat well with her.

'_Bah, Morgana must be to blame! She put the idea in my head that the girl was needed. Maybe that's why I helped her.' _Bellatrix frowned at that, just like the other reasons she could come up with, that too didn't sound or feel right. At the end of the day, she had helped a mudblood, no reasons could justify that. Pulling a wide range of faces, Bellatrix stared down at her parchment as she pondered over her actions, not only did she help the girl, but she had been… Concerned about her, worried about the girl's well-being as Bellatrix helped Hermione.

That above all, confused her the most. It wasn't like she could use those feelings to her benefit; it had no use to her at all. The only people whose wellbeing she had ever cared about other than her own, was her sister's and her little cousins… And now she could add a mudblood to that tiny exclusive list, being confused was definitely an understatement. '_Must be suffering side effects from the time travel… Yes… That must be it, a few days and I'll back to my good old self…' _

Closing her eyes and taking a long deep breath, Bellatrix slowly reopened them and looked across the common room to where the girl was sitting. The girl was sitting on the sofa by the fire with the two boys; her knees pulled up to her chest as she read a book and talked in hushed whispers with her friends. Ever since their duel earlier that day, the girl had given her a wide berth, staying close to the boys who, along with Hermione, gave her no end of dirty looks during class and all through lunch. The girl must have felt her eyes on her as she looked up over to Bellatrix, their gazes met briefly and the girl gave her a dark glare, which Bellatrix replied to with a sly grin.

'_I should get her angry or upset more often; she's even more beautiful when she's… Err… Beautiful? Where the hell did that come from? Damn time travel and its stupid side effects!' _Bellatrix scowled and looked away, chewing on her bottom lip as she considered the actuality of that line of thought. It wasn't the first time she had described the girl as beautiful to herself, when she had woken up in the hospital wing, that thought had crossed her mind then too. But she had put it down to just waking up from a dizzy spell and that she wasn't thinking straight.

But this time she had no such excuse, frowning deeply, Bellatrix pulled up the image of the girl inside her head. For some time, she pondered over it, mentally arguing with herself about the beauty of the mudblood, Bellatrix tried to pick fault with the girl's looks, tried to find something to focus on that would dispel the absurd idea that she found her beautiful. But she couldn't. From what she had seen, the girl was practically perfect in every physical way. '_Perhaps I'd find fault if I saw her in the bathroom sometime…' _And as the thought of the girl half naked, slithered its way into her mind, Bellatrix found her cheeks grow warm and her sex become moist. _'Oh… Fan-Fucking-Tastic…'_

In her frustration and embarrassment, Bellatrix slammed her quill to the table. '_If only the girl was a pureblood!' _She thought angrily. If the girl had been a pureblood, Bellatrix wouldn't have minded in the slightest about apparently being aroused at the idea of Hermione half naked. With the exception of Tom, she always had found girls generally more appealing and not only was Hermione beautiful, she was intelligent too, which Bellatrix had always found attractive in a person. Although that was something that unfortunately had been a distinctly lacking in most purebloods at Hogwarts in her own time. And those that had it, along with the looks, had vile personalities or they would open their mouths and her father's views would come out.

Personality wise, the girl was a typical Gryffindor, all so noble, honourable and most likely a kill joy. They would definitely clash there… But maybe that wasn't such a bad thing, the thought of Bellatrix dragging a good two shoes Gryffindor along with her as she got up to mischief and slowly turning the lion bad, actually sounded like an exciting prospect to her and a challenge. And Bellatrix loved challenges. Bellatrix smiled slightly at the thought before sighing and shaking her head. '_If only she was a pureblood…' _She thought again, this time more saddened by the fact. For a while she wallowed in that sadness before her brain kicked into action and she came to her senses. '_What the hell am I doing? Sulking over a bloody mudblood! Get a grip Bellatrix!'_

Again Bellatrix found herself blaming Morgana. '_Stupid old hag! She must have done something to me! This is not me! I don't blush and pout over mudbloods! Grr….Why do I need her Morgana? For her intelligence? Surely Dumbledore could help more than a sixth year mudblood…' _Bellatrix was so caught up in her musing that she didn't notice the newcomer till they sat down right opposite her.

"Hi Belladonna." The redheaded girl Ginny said with a smile.

'_Great… Just what I needed… To be pestered by the annoying ginger princess.' _Bellatrix bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself scowling at the girl; instead she forced a smile and looked at her. "Hello Ginny."

"How are you?" Ginny asked cheerfully as she pulled out her books. '_Marvellous, I guess this is not just a quick social call…'_

Bellatrix held her tongue for a second until she made sure she wouldn't bite the girl's head off. While she had quickly found she couldn't stand the girl's company, she did have her uses. Ginny had a very loose tongue when it came to gossip, something that Bellatrix believed would come in handy, that and her close connection to the trio could prove as equally as useful. "Can't complain, it has been a very… Exciting first day to say the least." Bellatrix answered, trying not to sound as smug as she felt.

"Oh I know! I heard all about Potions class and Defence Against the Dark Arts. I mean… Wow, what you did was amazing!" Ginny said quickly as she looked at her with large eyes full of admiration.

"Thanks, but it was nothing really." Bellatrix forced out politely from behind a smile, while her hand twitched under the table, wanting nothing more than to hex the silly girl.

"Nothing? Come oooon don't be so modest-" From there the girl droned on about the day's events while Bellatrix forced herself to smile and nod at the right time. The weary conversation flickered through a variety of topics that for the best part, Bellatrix found extremely dull. '_And here I thought Andy and Cissy were bad with the amount of time they spent gossiping… Merlin's beard does this girl ever shut up…' _Bellatrix thought, feeling momentarily saddened as she recalled her sisters. Even though she had seen them only the other night, she missed them as if she hadn't seen them in almost three decades.

"And now Dean's being a jerk again because Quidditch try-outs for the house team are being held this weekend and he wanted to spend time together." The redhead sighed as she flicked through a textbook, or at least pretended too, Bellatrix noticed how she was looking over at Harry from the corner of her eye. But Bellatrix didn't care in the slightest about Ginny's infatuation over Harry, what she did care about was the mention of Quidditch.

Bellatrix loved Quidditch, she loved the freedom it offered, the thrill of soaring at high speeds and free falling, she loved the competitive nature and the desire to win. It was also the only time she could forget about what was expected of her… But most of all, she loved being able to hurt people right in front of the staff and yet still get away with it. '_I could sure use a bit of Quidditch to help clear my mind… Hmm… I wonder…'_ She looked at Ginny as the redhead still carried on staring at the half-blood."Say Ginny…" She started of slowly and softly, gaining the girl's attention.

"Hmm?"

"Is it too late to sign up for try-outs?" Bellatrix asked, trying to sound as nice and as charming as possible.

"Hmm… No I don't think so. Why? Can you play Quidditch?" Ginny replied, sounded slightly surprised, much to Bellatrix's annoyance. She had overheard that some people seemed to have gotten the idea into their head's that since _Belladonna_ was from Beauxbatons, that she was a delicate princess. Something she would rectify soon no doubt.

"But of course. I don't want to boast… But I am pretty good." Once more Bellatrix forced herself to smile rather than smacking the stupid look off the ginger's face.

Upon hearing that Bellatrix was into Quidditch, Ginny lips grew into a large smile. Bellatrix suppressed a groan; Quidditch would now be another topic the girl would drone on about in future conversations. "Oh really? That's great! I had hoped you weren't like Hermione in that regard. She can't stand the sport. Anyway, what position do you play?"

Somehow Bellatrix wasn't surprised that Hermione wasn't a Quidditch fan but for now, she pushed that information to one side. "Well… I'm a pretty good Seeker, but I'm an even better Beater."

The girl blinked in surprised as Bellatrix dug her nails into her leg to stop herself reacting. "Really? I wouldn't have guessed… Err I mean you don't have the typical Beater build… Well you should definitely put yourself down if you think you're up to it, just tell Harry."

"Harry? Why Harry?" This time it was Bellatrix who blinked in confusion.

Ginny smiled and looked over at the messy black haired boy. "He's team captain and our Seeker." Bellatrix almost swore upon hearing that, there was no chance Harry would allow her to play for his stupid house's team. Fortunately Ginny didn't notice the dark face Bellatrix was now pulling; she was too busy staring affectionately to notice, however that gave Bellatrix an idea. '_Perhaps her infatuation may come in handy.'_

"Oh… I don't think he will let me… He doesn't seem to like me much." Bellatrix muttered with feigned sadness.

It seemed to take a moment for Ginny to register Bellatrix had even spoken before turning to look back at her. "Nonsense! Why do you think that? You helped one of his closest friends today, I'm sure he'd love to show his appreciation by giving you a chance." Ginny almost snapped back, her tone was slightly defensive, as if Bellatrix had just gravely insulted the guy of her dreams.

"I… I don't know…" She replied shyly as she looked back down at her homework. "Call it female intuition…"

"Come." The redhead spoke softer this time as she stood up; Bellatrix looked up at her, giving her a bewildered look. "We'll ask him together." '_Too easy.'_ Bellatrix thought smugly as she got to her feet and followed the female Weasley over to the trio.

Bellatrix kept behind the redhead, blocking herself from the trios view as Ginny stopped behind the couch. "Hey guys." Harry's head sprung round immediately at the sound of Ginny's voice and choked out a rapid _'Hi Ginny'_ in reply. Her brother grunted in acknowledgment while biting into a cake and Hermione responded politely after she finished sniggering behind her hand. "Harry, can people still sign up for the Quidditch try-outs this weekend?"

"Err… Sure, I guess. Why? Do you know someone who might like to give it a shot?" Harry inquired sheepishly.

"Yep, Belladonna here." Ginny answered with a smile as she looked round, appearing slightly amused at how _Belladonna _was hiding shyly behind her. The ginger reached out and pulled her gently over to her side. "She's feeling kind of shy at the moment it seems, for some reason she didn't think you'd allow her. But you will won't you?"

Bellatrix muttered a quiet _hello_ to the trio as Ginny looked at Harry, waiting for an answer. The faces of the trio grew dark and twitched with anger as they looked from Ginny to Bellatrix, when Hermiones gaze met hers, Bellatrix grinned while Ginny wasn't looking. She knew they were trapped in a corner and she knew that they knew that too, they couldn't say no without a good reason, a reason they were not allowed to give. "I… I'm not sure Ginny…" Harry answered after a moment's silence.

Obviously Ginny had been expecting Harry to say yes without any fuss and was taken aback by his indecisive answer. Either that or it was the first time her charm had failed to get her way with him as her face flushed red. "What do you mean you're not sure? You just said people can still join up for try-outs." The redhead responded quickly and rather heatedly, the look of turmoil on Harry's face was priceless and it took Bellatrix a lot of restraint not to smile while Ginny was looking out of the corner of her eye.

"I… I know but… I'm not sure she's… Right for it." Harry looked over to Ron for support, who just shrugged and mumbled under his breath.

The female redhead grew even more flushed and judging by the way she squeezes Bellatrix's arm hard, was growing angry fast. "What's that meant to mean? What because she's a girl? Does that mean me and Katie shouldn't attend either?" Ginny snapped. On the inside, Bellatrix was laughing at the scene before her; she didn't care now if she didn't get on the team, this moment was priceless. On the outside however, she tried to look as disappointed and hurt as possible.

"It's… Its ok Ginny, it doesn't matter… I did say…" Bellatrix whispered quietly and pulled slightly at her ginger _friend_, beckoning for her to leave the trio to it. "Sorry to bother you guys…" She added before turning away, hoping her comment would add further fuel to the fire… And it did.

Ginny let go of Bellatrix and pulled away, getting closer to the trio and looking down at Harry with fire burning in her eyes. "What the hell has gotten into you? Why you being so mean? She helped Hermione today, the least you could do to repay her is allow her to try-out for the team!"

Bellatrix's sides were starting to ache from all the laughter she was keeping from erupting from her mouth. Harry had gone pale and was starting to stutter as he tried to lie and explain himself but it was Hermione who eventually stepped in to save him from the hole he had dug. "Harry, she's right. I know you've got a lot of people already attending, but one more can't hurt… And she did help me a lot today." Hermione said softly as she lowered her book, to Bellatrix's surprise the girl looked to be completely calm now, after getting over her initial feelings and she was sure she caught a peculiar glint in her eyes.

Harry turned and glared at the mudblood for her lack of support, they seemed to share a silent exchange before he sighed and looked up at Bellatrix. "Sorry, yeah of course we can always take one more… What position do you want to try out for?"

"Well… I'm an ok Seeker, but Ginny said that's your position and I don't want to rob you of your spot so… Beater." Bellatrix smiled sweetly while Ginny was watching the pair, but her mind was not on Harry, instead she was pondering over rather Hermione. '_Now muddy, what are you thinking in that pretty little head of yours?'_

"Ok Beater it is, we're starting try-outs at about half 10 on Saturday, so if you can be there by 10… That would be great."

"Thank you." Nodding politely and smiling to the ginger at her side, Bellatrix left the trio and headed back over to her work with Ginny while her mind lingered on Hermione.

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><p>Bellatrix lay on her bed, staring up into the darkness that surrounded her; everyone else was fast asleep except for her, she had been tossing and turning for hours, but sleep wouldn't claim her. She had difficulties sleeping the previous night and it seemed she was in for a repeat performance tonight.<p>

Grumbling to herself, Bellatrix kicked the covers of her in frustration and swung her legs out of bed. Silently pulling her curtain apart, she stood up and stretched her limbs as she walked over to the large bay window where she then opened the window slightly. Closing her eyes, Bellatrix allowed the cold night's breeze to envelop her; it comforted her until tiny goose bumps lined her arms. Taking a deep breath, she perched herself down by the window with her legs pulled up tight to her chest.

She would say this for the Gryffindor tower; it had a great view of the ground, especially at night. From the window she was at, she could see both the Forbidden Forest and the Black Lake, which under the clear moonlit sky looked beautiful in a very eerie sort of way. She had hoped that last night she would catch a glimpse of a spirit wandering the forest, but Bellatrix had no such luck and doubted she would tonight. But the cold air and her thoughts had helped to bring on sleep, so hopefully tonight would be the same.

After manipulating Ginny and getting signed up for the Gryffindor team try-outs, the rest of the day was dull at best. Dinner had been tiresome, she found herself repeating herself several times over as even more people approached her at dinner, congratulating her for her fast thinking in helping Hermione. Bellatrix was used to getting attention over what she had done to mudbloods in the past, but she never expected she'd ever find herself getting attention for actually helping one instead of harming them. '_Father would be furious if he knew… But then again, he's dead. So I guess he never will.'_ She knew to most people that it would sound insane, for a daughter to be delighted that her father was dead. But they didn't know what she knew; they didn't see what he had done to her as she grew up.

A shiver coursed through her body as she recalled memories from the summer break that had just gone by for her. Images of her covered in bruises, cuts and blood filled her mind; the feeling of being cold and alone in the dark filled her body before the sounds of her own screams echoed back to her under flashes of red. And then… _He_ came and spoke a single simple word that only her sisters had dared used against their father, only this time, he obeyed. '_Stop.' _The tall dark haired figure had said. Bellatrix had thought her father would be furious at being told what to do in his own house but instead he had knelt before the newcomer. Words were exchanged that she didn't hear over the ringing in ears before her father then left.

The newcomer then came over to her and introduced himself as Tom Marvolo Riddle, although as Bellatrix thought back, that had been the only time someone had referred to Tom by his name. When she had heard her father talk about him later, he had always referred to Tom as _my lord_, which didn't make much sense back then, but now she knew why. '_Lord Voldemort… I wonder why he introduced himself with the name Tom Riddle instead?' _Tom had, from the moment he met her, treated her like an equal, which was a rare concept, for all her skill and intelligence, she was still just a woman. And in pureblood society, a pureblood daughter was merely a possession used to strengthen a family's power and influence, a baby making tool to further a purebloods line.

Bellatrix had always despised the inevitable fate that awaited her; it was a total waste of her talents. She had hoped that by doing extremely well at Hogwarts, she could prove that she could be so much more, but her academic achievements only aggravated her father further and gave him added cause to… _Discipline _her. It wasn't her place to be powerful and smart, something that her father kept trying to drum into her, saying that all she needed to know was how to be a _proper _pureblood wife and how to _please_ her future husband.

But Tom… He had other ideas. Somehow he had heard about her prowess in duels, her academic achievements and how she wanted to do something with her life other than lay on her back and pop out heirs. '_You have the potential to be one of the greatest witches of our time Bellatrix. And with my help, I will not only help you achieve that, but I will make sure your life had a true purpose. I promise.' _Tom's words played back over in her mind, when she had tried to get him to elaborate, he had told her to finish her studies first and then once she had graduated, he would take her under his wing.

Foolishly she had believed he intended to wed her for himself, he was still unmarried as far as she knew and he had shown an unspoken interest. '_He may not have said anything on that matter… But actions speak louder than words…'_ For the first time she had a future to look forward to, a life that would make use of her talents and a powerful handsome man who treated her as an equal, for a husband. Despite how Bellatrix resisted and what her father believed, she wasn't against the idea of marriage as such, just against the idea that all she was good for was to be an obedient pureblood housewife. And just from the way Tom spoke, Bellatrix just knew that wouldn't be the case with him.

Although Tom was older than her by more than a few years, that didn't matter, age was just a number. Tom was a handsome man with a head of sleek jet black hair, his eyes were even darker then hers and had a pale complexion to match her own, in her opinion, they were a perfect match. From the moment he had stopped her father, she saw just how powerful and influential he was and over the holiday as he visited, that only increased in her mind. While most of his visits were to see his father, he did come to see her a few times and gave her a few private lessons in various subjects, a taster of what he had to offer her after Hogwarts. Her father didn't approve, that much was clear, but not once did he voice any objection and ever since Tom had stopped him, he hadn't so much as raised a finger to her.

Every time she knew Tom was visiting, she had dressed rather… Provocatively, in the hope she could entice him, she knew all too well how beautiful she was… So when he hadn't taken notice, it had been rather disheartening and by the end of the holidays she had almost given up hope. Until the last visit before she returned to Hogwarts, where he had kissed her softly on the lips with the promise of seeing her again after she graduated after their last lesson.

A soft smile graced her face as Bellatrix traced her lips softly with the tips of her fingers, her first kiss couldn't have come from a better person. However it didn't take long for reality to rear its ugly head and her smile to fade. _'I had such high… Hopes… Then bloody Morgana goes and ruins them, bitch! What happened? Where did I go wrong? Did I somehow disappoint him?'_ Those were questions she doubted anyone but her future self and Tom had the answer to, yet despite having being paired up with a Lestrange, she had still followed Tom faithfully. He had still made good on the promise he made, Bellatrix Lestrange did have a life other than that of a pureblood housewife, a life of a warrior.

A life that would have delighted her back then, to be the right hand woman of a powerful figure and to fight for a noble cause. But hearing and reading about some of her deeds… Made her feel uneasy, to say the least. While Bellatrix had no love for Mudbloods and such, she couldn't imagine taking one's life, or burning down the homes of Muggles with them still inside, or torturing a baby's parents in front of the child. Lestrange's actions… Her actions, made her feel sick to the stomach; she had become a monster… Just like her father. The notion that she would become her father, worse than her father even… Was almost too much to bear, she had already broken down twice over the thought and could feel her eyes starting to swell again.

'_Where did it all go wrong… What happened to me?!' _Bellatrix wrapped her arms around her legs tighter and pulled her knees closer to her chest. Right now she wished she had her sisters with her, she missed both of them, even Andy, so much. Even though she and Andy rarely saw eye to eye, and fought almost all the time… Andy was always there for her, even more so after their father had disciplined her. Bellatrix would never say it, never admit she needed her sisters help, after all she was the big sister, it was her job to protect them both, not the other way round. But right now, she didn't care about that, she just wanted to hold them both and go back to being just Bellatrix Black with no knowledge of who she was to become.

Tears streamed down her face as she mourned the loss of her sisters, who while not dead, were no longer her sisters, they were Bellatrix Lestranges sisters. She mourned the loss of her cousins who were both now dead, those two little boys who she taught how to fly… She would now never see the men they grew up to be. '_What… Happened… Why would you do this to me Morgana? What am I meant to do?!'_ Try as she might, she couldn't stop the tears as she buried her face in her knees and sobbed until she could cry no more.

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><p><strong>AN:** Hope you enjoyed Chapter 5 ^^ I'll try update a little sooner next time :) x


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Sorry for the long delay posting this :/ as I mentioned in the quick authors note the other day. Real life got in the way big time, as well as that, my laptop broke with all my writing and planning on, so I'm a bit behind on everything. I've also kept this chapter short to ease people back into it :) was originally meant to be a lot longer, but instead I've split this in half, the next half will be chapter 7.

**Disclaimer:** The world of Harry Potter and the original storyline are not mine; they belong to J.K. Rowling.

Read, review and most of all… Enjoy!

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><p><strong>Chapter 6: Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Hard<strong>

**Hermione**

"I'm still not convinced about this Hermione." Harry said quietly after taking a bite out of his toast. "Why did you go along with it?" He went on to say.

Discreetly, Hermione leaned in close across the Gryffindor table after making sure no one was listening. "I told you before when you asked. You had no choice, you couldn't turn her down to Ginny. Not without raising suspicion."

"It was sneaky and devious, playing my sister against us like that." Ron mumbled, looking very pale in his Quidditch kit as he tried to steel his nerves with a glass of orange juice. "Deceitful cow…"

"You don't know that's what she was doing, you know how passionate Ginny is about Quidditch. It's perfectly understandable she'd want everyone to have an equal chance if it meant we'd win the cup." Hermione sighed, the boys had been groaning about it all week since Harry had been forced to accept Bellatrix for the try-outs, and found herself repeating the same answers every time. And each time they were forced to accept she was right.

However if they knew the full story, Hermione doubted she could keep them quite or trust them not to cause a scene. _'They are far too hot headed where Bellatrix is concerned, they could jeopardise everything.' _Their dual during the middle of week already had the boys on edge, they were convinced Bellatrix had been trying to harm her, and that Snape and _Belladonna_ had planned it. The former, she silently agreed with, the latter she had dismissed as another conspiracy theory. They had been ready and eager to front her out in the common room after that, and that was without them knowing all the sneaky remarks and the physical attack. _'There's no point telling them about it, not until it's absolutely necessary… Besides I represent muggle-borns, I have to show Bellatrix we can stand up for ourselves without the help of others, I bet not many, if any, did in her own time. Well that's all going to change.'_

Though since that day earlier in the week, Bellatrix hadn't made any more sly snide remarks, no more displays of violence, not even a dirty or a dark look. She had been the _perfect_ model student, both in public and behind closed doors. In fact she had been kind and helpful whenever possible. Hermione knew it was another act, a very good and convincing act, but an act nonetheless. '_Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me… There won't be a third time.'_ "Anyway, you're Captain Harry, you get final say who's on the team. Just because she's trying out. Doesn't mean she'll get on." Hermione added. With that Harry nodded and dropped the subject, and in good timing too as Bellatrix had just entered the hall with Ginny.

"Morning guys." Ginny chirped happily when they arrived, whom Bellatrix echoed as they sat down and joined them for breakfast.

"Morning Ginny. Morning Belladonna." Hermione replied first followed by the boys as the two new arrivals sorted out their breakfast. "All ready for your try-outs? You both seem excited." Hermione remarked as she studied both of the girls, but mostly Bellatrix. Who had a particular glint in her eye, one that sent a chill down Hermione's spine. Not because it seemed malicious or suspicious, quite the opposite in fact. It unnerved her, Bellatrix had been too _nice_ recently and Hermione suspected that whatever the witch was undoubtedly planning, it probably had something to do with the try-outs. _'Whatever it is, it won't work. Bellatrix has played me twice, now to return the favour and even the score a little.'_

"I can't wait! Quidditch at my old school was a bit too… Tame. I'm looking forward to a real game without someone moaning about breaking a nail." Bellatrix answered with a large grin as Ginny sniggered away. The dark haired witch ate a mouthful of her breakfast and swallowed it down before looking over at Ron. "Are you ok Ron? You look a little pale."

"Yeah… Just nervous." The redhead replied stiffly, apparently not appreciating being singled out, and Hermione didn't miss how his hand clenched around his glass.

Ginny however snorted and shook her head. "Nervous? It's just you and Cormac trying out for keeper. You have a 50/50 chance of making the team, you'll be fine."

Harry nodded eagerly, since the brief heated moment in the common room, he had been in Ginny's bad books for the past few days and had taken every opportunity to try and get out of them without appearing to do so. '_Honestly, I wish those two would just admit how they feel about each other.' _Hermione thought as she rolled her eyes. "Ginny's right Ron." Harry went on to say. "I've seen you play plenty of times, you're a good keeper. You just need to keep your cool.

With a grunt Ron nodded sullenly and continued to play with his food. "Just how many people are coming today? There won't be too big a crowd will there?"

"I'm not sure if I'm honest, the team seems very popular all of a sudden."

Hermione almost choked on her breakfast at that remark, she hurried it down and stared at her friend in disbelief. "Oh, come on Harry." She began with a sigh. "It's not Quidditch that's popular, it's you! You've never been more interesting and frankly, you've never been more fanciable." At that remark, Ron gagged on a large piece of kipper he had begun to eat, while Ginny turned bright red. With that, Hermione was forced to explain her comment to her naïve friends for the remainder of breakfast, only to be saved from the awkward situation by the arrival of the morning post, all while a silent Bellatrix looked on in mild amusement.

After chastising Harry over the arrival of his new potions book, and keeping the Half-Blood Princes copy, while all the time trying to be discreet about in front of Bellatrix. Another owl arrived with the morning's edition of the Daily Prophet. "Anyone we know dead?" Ron asked with a hard tone as Hermione unrolled and opened up the paper.

She skimmed over the content of the first few pages before shaking her head. "No, but there have been-" Before Hermione could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by Bellatrix sharply getting up.

"Sorry, please excuse me. I need to make a quick trip to the girls before try-outs." Bellatrix blurted out hastily before leaving the table fast without waiting for a reply. Hermione blinked rapidly as she stared at Bellatrix's retreating back, before looking at her friends, who all shrugged in reply, looking equally confused.

* * *

><p>Not long after finishing breakfast, the group made their way down to the stadium where they found quite a crowd waiting. Both the boys groaned, rolling her eyes, Hermione wished the three good luck and started to make her way up the packed stands. '<em>Anyone would think it was a Quidditch cup final, this is ridiculous… Poor Ron.'<em> Hermione thought sympathetically upon finding a remote-ish place and taking a seat, only to have Lavender, Parvati and a number of other girls sit not far behind her.

Trying her best to ignore the giggling and comments, some of them about Ron from Lavender, which made Hermione feel rather flustered and annoyed. Hermione scanned the pitch at the large group of hopefuls present. _'Harry sure has his work cut out for him.'_ Her eyes continued to sweep the crowd until she found Bellatrix just entering the grounds with a few more applicants. _'I wonder where she disappeared too. She seems to keep making herself scarce when the paper arrives… What is it she doesn't want to see or hear?'_

Much to her annoyance, she couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Bellatrix, while she may be cruel and hateful, she probably wasn't yet at that stage where she could kill and torture, perhaps hearing about her future self doing it, upset her. In truth, Hermione couldn't begin to understand what Bellatrix must be thinking or going through, she was in a totally unheard of situation. _'Bah, what do I care… Given how she's been here despite being restricted in how she can act in public, she must be ten times worse in her own time.'_ Frowning at the dark haired witch, her gaze shifted to an unexpected guest on the side lines, Professor McGonagall. For once, Hermione was glad not to be near the stern Professor, it had completely slipped their mind to inform her Bellatrix was trying out for her house's team. _'Oh Merlin… She will have words with us later, I doubt she's pleased about a future Death Eater playing for her house…' _With a long drawn out sigh, Hermione pushed all thoughts about Bellatrix out of her head and focused on watching the try outs and supporting her friends.

The beginning of the try-outs were disastrous with a lot of applicants failing the most basic of tests, some of them seemed to have never ridden before while others weren't even in Gryffindor. Hermione mused over who would be getting the most frustrated, Harry or McGonagall as everyone watched a pair of second year's crash into each other. '_Harry's more popular than even I first thought, clearly most of them are here to catch the gossip or some kind of exclusive look into Harry's life.' _She thought as she watched a group of giggling girls leave the field.

After most of the less serious applicants had left the field, the try outs were well underway. Both Ginny and Ron passed the tests, although Ron did have a few hiccups. Unfortunately, Bellatrix also passed, there was no way Harry could not pass her based on her performance in front of half Gryffindor it seemed. "Wow. You can tell she's from Beauxbatons, look at how graceful she moves." A voice said not far from her, followed by mutters of agreement as well as wolf whistles from some of the lads.

Hermione rolled her eyes and made a noise of disgust, but at the same time, felt her cheeks flush. Like many others, she had been watching Bellatrix closely, and while she had tried to convince herself that she was only keeping an eye on her to make sure she wasn't up to something. Part of her deep down enjoyed the spectacle, Bellatrix was both graceful and agile, able to make turns and twists that Hermione wouldn't have thought possible on them old school brooms. She soared like an eagle, as if she was born to fly, and when she demonstrated her ability to free fall, a lump had risen in Hermione's throat and she found herself literally on the edge of her seat.

"Wow Granger." Lavender said from a row behind her, gritting her teeth, Hermione turned to face the irritating housemate. "Not only is she better in class than you, but she's a better flyer too. Professor Snape was right, you are no longer the best." Lavender said smugly. Hermione narrowed her eyes and scoffed before turning back sharply in her seat. '_We'll see about that!'_

Once the basic tests were done, the chaser try-outs began and lasted almost half an hour. By the end, a very delighted Ginny had made the team, as did Katie Bell and Demelza Robins. Next came the keeper try-outs. Ron and Cormac flew up to opposing goals as the crowd cheered and the chasers began taking shots against them. Hermione cheered loudly for Ron as he saved the first two shots and tried to shout words of encouragement, but was drowned out by the obnoxious tone of Lavender, squealing at the top of her voice. But by the third shot, Ron's nerves seemed to get the better of him, and the fourth he barely managed to save. All while Cormac saved his perfectly.

Anxious not to see Ron lose or to be beaten by Cormac, whom she had taken a recent disliking to. Hermione slyly pulled out her wand and under the cover of her robes, aimed it at Cormac as the chasers lined up to take their fifth shot. "_Confundo_" She muttered quietly under her breath, her incantation being drowned out by the roaring crowd just as Ginny took her shot. Instead of saving the ball, Cormac dived the wrong way entirely, much to the amusement of a jeering crowd as they laughed at what seemed like an obvious blunder.

With Cormac only saving 4 out of the 5 shots, Ron only needed to save one more to make the team. "Go on Ron!" Hermione shouted as loud as she could. Whether it the crowd spurring him on, or Cormac's 'blunder', Ron seemed far more confident and with that, managed to save the last shot. The whole stand seemed to cheer, Hermione would have liked to think, none more so than her, but once again Lavenders screaming voice drowned hers out. '_Oh for Merlin's sake, put a sock in it you blonde bimbo!'_ Hermione thought to herself, wishing you had the front to say it to her face. And after what seemed to be a minor scuffle with Cormac and Harry, Ron was picked as the team's Keeper. Last up was the Beaters, and more importantly, Bellatrix.

The first few that went up did poorly, with each applicant that didn't do well, Hermione found herself looking at a very smug Bellatrix watching at the side lines. _'Smirk all you like, it won't last.' _Hermione smiled to herself as Bellatrix took the field, a chorus of whistling and cheering erupted as the beautiful dark haired girl mounted her broom.

Bellatrix took to the sky and hovered not too far from where Hermione was sitting, the pureblood looked over at Hermione and grinned as she juggled the bat in her hand. '_She's up to something… Well it won't come to pass.'_ Hermione smiled sweetly in reply as the others players took their mark. The mock match begun swiftly, Ron and Ginny were both taking part as Harry released the bludgers and watched on.

It wasn't long into the match when the bludgers started finding there marks, and unfortunately it was Bellatrix who was quick to respond and cover her teammates. With speed and ferocity, the dark haired girl cleared each one before the other beater applicant had a chance. From the performance Bellatrix was giving, Harry would have no choice but to pick her.

But Hermione wasn't about to allow that to happen, ever since Bellatrix had put her name down to try out as a beater, Hermione had been doing some scheming of her own. This was her chance to put Bellatrix in her place, her chance at revenge and getting one over the pureblood. Never in a million years would Hermione thought herself capable of such pettiness, but Bellatrix was a special case. '_She needs knocking off her pedestal a little and to be shown she's not as superior as she believes… Besides, if she was to freely become the teams' beater, who's to say she won't use that as an excuse to attack Ron or Harry and pass it off as a mistake.' _

Pulling out her wand again slowly, she mimicked her earlier actions just as the bludger approached Bellatrix, and casted the Confundus Charm on her. What happened next, seemed to last an eternity. In the seconds before the bludgers hit her, Bellatrix's gaze snapped to Hermione and met hers, the look on the purebloods face was one of hatred and it was clear to Hermione, that Bellatrix knew exactly what she had done. Then the bludger connected with the girl.

To Hermione's sudden horror, the bludger didn't hit her arm or broom like Hermione had hoped for. Instead the small aggressive ball hit her square in the chest as Bellatrix failed to deflect it with the bat. A chorus of gasps erupted, noises of shock and horror filled the air as Bellatrix was catapulted off her broom at inhuman speeds and sent plummeting to the group. Before Bellatrix hit the ground, her body slowed and came to a halt, before then being laid gently on the ground. Looking over to the side lines, Hermione saw Professor McGonagall with her wand out, pointed directly at the fallen student.

Everyone was out of their seats and peering down at _Belladonna's_ motionless body sprawled out on the ground. By now McGonagall had rushed on over to the purebloods side and had quickly begun levitating her out of the stadium and towards the Hospital Wing. '_What have I done…' _Hermione thought with disgust as she watched the head of her house take her _victim_ away.

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><p><strong>AN:** I will update when I can, but until I get my laptop fixed or a new one, I can't say when that will be. I'll see what I can do :).


	7. Chapter 7: Wildflowers and Chocolate

**A/N:** Another update already :) I've had access to a laptop a lot lately and wanted to get the second half of the previous chapter :D so here you go. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it ^^ If you like it, then please review and let me know.

I currently have no beta so all mistakes are my own and I apologise for any I missed.

**Disclaimer:** The world of Harry Potter and the original storyline are not mine; they belong to J.K. Rowling.

Read, review and most of all… Enjoy!

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><p><strong>Chapter 7: Wildflowers and Chocolate<strong>

**Bellatrix**

**(3****rd**** of July 1965)**

Bellatrix fell backwards, landing on her rear with a slight bounce against the grassy field, reeling from the backhand she had received. Biting down on her trembling lip, refusing to cry, Bellatrix rubbed her sore cheek as she stared down at the ground. "Pathetic." Said the dark haired man towering above her. "Your great great Aunt Elladora could have done better. And she's been dead 30 years! Get up child!"

Not needing to be told twice, Bellatrix hurried to her feet and looked at the man who had hit her. "I am trying father."

The sound of a second backhand echoed throughout the grounds surrounding Black Manor, though this time Bellatrix managed to stay on her feet. "How dare talk back to me! Insolent child!" Cygnus Black growled out at his eldest daughter. '_But I wasn't!' _Bellatrix wanted to say in defence, but kept her mouth shut. Her father was in a bad mood, more so than usual and apparently he didn't need an excuse to strike her today. "You ungrateful urchin. I'm… _Allowing _you this opportunity to make our house proud. I expect you to give it your all."

Cygnus paused and looked down at Bellatrix, giving her a hard stare. "Yes father." Bellatrix quickly added when she realized her father was waiting for her acknowledgment.

"You should be thankful that I am so generous." Her father went on to say, a comment which almost made Bellatrix laugh out loud. "Unfortunately, no male heirs are present at Hogwarts to seize this opportunity. Since you are the eldest Black at Hogwarts and despite you being an inferior female, the duty falls to you. Not many would do the same in my position. However, needs must."

"Yes father." Bellatrix repeated, trying not to sound hurt at her father's comment, his words weren't anything new. But it still stung every time he reminded her how unwanted she was, all because she was born a female. But it wasn't solely just because was female, she was her father's firstborn child, the first of three girls, and now her mother was unable to have any more children. Her father had always blamed her for this, hated her for it, that much he had always made clear to her. '_Life is so unfair! I never did anything wrong, I didn't choose to be born a girl!' _

Bellatrix was snapped away from her line of thought as her father carried on talking. "You'll be going into your third year when you return, and I have it on good authority that there will a space on the Slytherin Quidditch team. Tell me _girl_, why is it important to have a member of our most noble house on the team?"

Bellatrix thought quickly, raking her brain for the answer her father sought before meeting his gaze. "Because… The winning team has their names engraved on a plaque forever?"

Her father scowled at her, but made no move to strike her a third time. "That is… Somewhat correct. Legacy, Bellatrix, legacy. Ensuring our name is remembered and recognized in all circles, ensuring that our name reminds people of our power, prowess and ability in all fields." Cygnus turned his back on her and begun walking over to an old chest. "And while… Your limited ability and prowess is of no importance, you carry the family name, as will your sons. You have the opportunity to show what talents and skills our future generations will inherit. Now enough chatter, get on your broom." Her father snapped, ending his latest mini lecture.

Sighing inwardly, Bellatrix picked up her broom and bat before then kicking off from the ground. It was a beautiful summer's day with a slight breeze, the perfect time to play Quidditch. Or so it usually would be, right now though, Bellatrix wanted nothing more than to escape and hide from her father, she would much rather be spending the time with her sister. Even if that meant playing along with their silly girly games, anything would be more fun than spending time with _him_. Nothing was ever fun when her father was involved, not even flying.

Hovering above the playing field, Bellatrix looked down at her father and without a word, he kicked open the old chest and released the bludgers. The pair of small fast black balls took to the sky and instantly starting whizzing around, disappearing from sight momentarily as she tried to keep track of them. Not wanting to be caught off guard by acting like a sitting duck, Bellatrix began flying around the field dodging and weaving the bludgers as they came. Every time one got close, she would duck or veer out of the way. She knew she was meant to hit them away with the bat, but never before had she been a beater. Whenever she played Quidditch before, she had always been the seeker, and it was her seeker senses that were causing her to avoid the bludgers rather than confront them. However that option was closed to her, due to it being reserved for an obnoxious boy in her year, Rodolphus Lestrange.

More to the point, her father knew she had never played as a beater. Part of Bellatrix firmly believed that her father hoped she would get hurt in her first experience, he had offered her no advice, showed her no techniques or tricks. Instead he had just handed her a bat and expected her to be perfect, which of course, she hadn't been. All she knew about being a beater is what she had seen or read about, and she didn't have an ounce of experience until today. When she tried earlier, one of the bludgers had clipped her shoulder and sent her to the ground. Her father had made no attempt to help her or check for injuries, which fortunately she didn't believe she had, instead all she had got from him was a blistering backhander and another lecture.

Oh how she hated him, how she wished she had the power to stand up to him. She had heard other students talk about disliking their parents at times, how their parents wouldn't let them do something or buy them whatever they liked, how they might get sent to bed without supper. _'They have no idea how lucky they are that that's all they get…'_ Bellatrix thought bitterly as she dodged another bludger. She prayed for the day she could leave home and never see her parents again, the day that she'd be free, she would give everything, sacrifice anything for that freedom.

All the thoughts going through her head about her father, about everything he had done and said to both her and her sisters, filled Bellatrix with a rage unbefitting of a thirteen year old. Just once, she wished she could turn the tables, to harm her father as he had harmed her. Feeling the need to express her anger and hatred, Bellatrix lashed out at the next bludger that approached her, sending it flying off into the distance. "That… Felt good…" Bellatrix muttered to herself as she looked down at the bat, and when the next bludger came at her, she repeated her action.

Fuelled on by her hate and anger, Bellatrix began striking the bludgers every time they came close, rather than avoiding them. As her confidence grew, she found a certain pleasure in lashing out and started to have fun. She had forgotten all about her father watching, and the more fun she had, the less anger she felt.

For a while she flew around sending the bludgers in every possible direction, hitting them harder each time. But she quickly became over confident, and when both bludgers came at her at once, she chose to go for it rather than avoiding them. The first one she cleared with ease, but the second came in before she could recover from her last swing. The bludger smashed the front of Bellatrix's broom and sent her falling to the ground. Luckily she hadn't been high up from the ground at the time, and the grassy field was soft and cushioned her landing somewhat, though an ache shot through her body as she hit the floor.

Groaning in discomfort, Bellatrix caught her breath before she pushed herself of the ground and slowly got to her feet. Once she had dusted herself down, Bellatrix looked over at her approaching father, who had done nothing to ensure she wasn't hurt, instead he had a face like thunder. "You shame both me and our family with that performance girl!" Her father shouted as he walked closer, beater bat in hand. "Did you listen to nothing I said?"

"I did!" Bellatrix yelled back in a snappier tone then she intended.

"Then I guess it didn't sink in!" Her father paused and looked up at the sky then smiled. "Here, maybe this will hammer my point home." Cygnus said coldly. From up above a bludger was heading right for him, with a hard swing of his arm, Cygnus sent the bludger flying straight at his defenceless daughter.

* * *

><p><strong>(Present Day)<strong>

Bellatrix woke as searing pain rippled throughout her chest. Her sight was a blur as she opened her eyes, bright lights and colours filled her vision. Bellatrix could make out two blurry figures standing by her side, engaged in what seemed like a private conversation. "I've healed her wounds, she'll make a full recovery by the morning, though I'd suggest she stay here for the night so I can keep an eye on her. Especially after her experience earlier this week." Said one of the persons standing by her, whom Bellatrix recognized as Madam Pomfrey.

"Very well." Said the other, which Bellatrix recognized as Professor McGonagall. "Would I be right in assuming there is something else wrong Poppy?"

After a moment's pause, the elderly nurse answered. "I found… Faint scarring on her body, as well as evidence of bones being fractured and broken very recently."

"What do you mean evidence? Bending bones is a basic healers skill, there shouldn't be any signs remaining after." McGonagall asked in a slightly bewildered tone of voice.

"Dark magic Minerva…" Madam Pomfrey whispered seriously. "When I tried to heal her, her injuries intensified. By the looks of it, whoever had inflicted her older injuries on her… Only healed her to the bare minimum then cursed her… The only reason someone would do that would be to prolong her suffering." Pomfrey stopped talking, and by the sound of it, was going through a cache of potions. "I had to lift the curse with this before curing her. I've never had to use it before… But I do remember vials of this going missing before… At the same time she attended Hogwarts."

"Merlin's beard… But if that was the case, why didn't she cure herself this time?"

"I don't know Minerva… Maybe she hadn't yet had the opportunity to procure it."

'_Or perhaps I was just accustomed to the pain… It gave me strength, a constant reminder of how the world works.' _Groaning to herself, Bellatrix rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand as she tried to sit up, only to be pushed back down on her back. "Not so fast Miss Melania, just lay back and try not to move too much." Pomfrey said in a commanding tone of voice, who had just noticed she was awake.

"Ughh… What? What's going on?" Bellatrix asked groggily, she tried to sit up again only to be forced down again harder this time. Squinting her eyes as her vision slowly returned, Bellatrix scowled at being told what to do.

"You don't know? I wasn't told she had hit her head." The nurse said with a frown to Professor McGonagall.

"She didn't as far as I'm aware." McGonagall replied whilst regarding Bellatrix. "You are in the Hospital Wing Miss Melania, do you now recall how you got here?"

Bellatrix stared blankly at the two women. She remembered an old memory, being defenceless and purposely struck with a bludger. _'Why am I remembering that?'_ Bellatrix thought harder, she remembered cheers, a sea of red and… Hermione's face. Then it hit her. "That bitch!" Bellatrix snapped loudly as she recalled exactly what had happened. _'That stinking piece of mudblood lowlife! Oh you wait, Hermione… Just you wait.'_

Pomfrey's eyes grew wide and muttered something about language, while McGonagall shook her head. "That's quite enough Miss Melania. Now who are you referring too?"

For a second, Bellatrix contemplated naming her attacker. But she was no snitch, no, she would deal with Hermione personally. "No one Professor, I was… _Confused_ for a second… I remember what happened. I… _Missed_ my swing and got hit by that damn bludger." She lied, making no effort to disguise her disgust and anger. _'I can't believe that stinking goodie two-shoes mudblood lion got one over on me!_

"Hmm…" For a moment the strict head of Gryffindor stared at her, it was clear she knew Bellatrix was hiding something, but in the end she didn't pry further. "Very well. Well, you'll be staying here for the remainder of the day and overnight." Turning away from her, McGonagall nodded at Pomfrey before heading out of the Hospital Wing.

A few moments later, a familiar voice drew Bellatrix's attention. Looking over to the large double doors, Bellatrix saw Professor McGonagall talking to none other than her _attacker_, Hermione. _'She has got some nerve turning up here! I swear if she's here to gloat… This stupid façade won't stop me hexing her right here, right now!'_ Bellatrix thought furiously as she glared at Hermione who had yet to look in her direction, from where she was laying, she could barely make out a word that was being said and sitting up made no difference.

Madam Pomfrey who had now also taken notice of the visitor just shook her head. "I must insist on no visitors today. And even if I would allow it, there would be no point, Miss Melanie is about to take a sleeping draught." The old matron said impatiently as she uncorked a small vial.

"What?!" Bellatrix snapped. "I just bloody woke back up!"

"You need rest. Which would be easier…" Madam Pomfrey pushed Bellatrix back down again. "If you stopped moving around."

Bellatrix shook her head and tried to sit up again. "I'm not going back to… Ow! Let go of my nose!" Bellatrix wiggled and tried to remove the nurse's hand, who had taken it upon herself to pinch her nose. As Bellatrix tried to protest, Madam Pomfrey made her take a sip of her sleeping draught then got her to swallow. "Oh you… Ugh…" The effects of the sleeping draught began kicking in immediately. Exhaustion consumed her as she fell back on the bed, her sleepy eyes catching Hermione's gaze as they closed.

"I've waited a long time to do that." Pomfrey said in an amused tone of voice just as Bellatrix passed out.

* * *

><p>"No! Do you think I'm drinking anything after yesterday?" Bellatrix snapped and pushed the goblet away for a third time.<p>

"For the last time, it's only pumpkin juice." Madam Pomfrey said with a sigh as she tried to offer the goblet back. "You didn't have anything all morning and look, it's gone lunch time. Now quit being so immature."

Instead of answering the older women, Bellatrix mocked her by mouthing her words back in a childish manner before sticking out her tongue. Pomfrey narrowed her eyes before putting the goblet on the cabinet, giving up, the nurse moved on back to her desk, muttering under her breath. Which made Bellatrix feel far better than any goblet of juice would have done. The morning had been long and dull, and she was in serious need of some entertainment, especially now she no longer had any pain to distract her. Winding up the nurse seemed to alleviate the boredom some.

Though the uneventful morning did give her time to think on what happened, and more importantly, what she was going to do to Hermione. _'Just what kind of fucked up future is this? A mudblood would never have dared talk to a pureblood in my time, let alone attack them! She knows who I really am, and she knows who I become, so why on earth would she dare challenge me?!' _Bellatrix frowned. '_There is no way I'm letting it go unpunished, and if she's as smart as she's meant to be, she'll know that too. Though maybe not, if the mudblood was smart, she wouldn't have dared do it in the first place!' _Despite being furious at Hermione, part of Bellatrix had to give the girl credit, Hermione had picked the time when she would be most vulnerable, and not only that, she had acted against her in a way that no one would suspect foul play.

'_It was cunning, I'll give her that. An action I would myself carry out. Bloody Confundus Charm… Ah why didn't I see it coming! That other Keeper, whatever his name was, he saved the first four perfectly then went and failed miserably to catch the fifth. I should have suspected it then, that blunder was too amateurish for someone who had been doing perfectly. Oh you cheating little cow! You did that to get Ron on the team.' _Bellatrix laughed. The idea that this _perfect_ model student, this lion of the most _courageous _and _honourable _house could resort to such underhanded tactics amused her more than it should have done. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Pomfrey staring at her bewildered, most likely wondering why Bellatrix was suddenly laughing.

'_Oh but how to get her back…'_ She began to ponder after she was done laughing. For some time, she sat there thinking up creative ways about how to get Hermione back.

It was only till someone coughed at her side, was she pulled out of her scheming and back to reality. Looking up, Bellatrix saw one of her _fellow_ housemates, a slightly stocky male with a round face and short blond hair whose name escaped her. "H..Hi… Belladonna." He stuttered out.

"Erm… Hi?" She responded curiously, taking in his appearance as he shuffled his feet nervously.

"S… Sorry. It's Neville in case you didn't remember. Neville Longbottom." Neville said, his words rolling out of his mouth fast as if they were burning his tongue.

Bellatrix stared at the boy, her body went rigid as she remembered who he was. _'Longbottom… The boy whose parents I… Or rather, will… Torture to the point of insanity, the crime I go to Azkaban for…'_ A cold sweat washed over Bellatrix, her heart was pounding furiously and her breath seemed to get caught in her throat. Turning away she picked up the goblet of juice and downed the contents in one go. _'Please be a sleeping draught, please be a sleeping draught.' _She prayed and waited a few seconds, but unlike the previous day, nothing kicked in. '_For fuck sake!'_

Taking a deep breath, Bellatrix smiled and turned to face Neville while ignoring the looks Madam Pomfrey was giving her. "Sorry, had a really dry throat. Of course I remember you Neville. How could I forget, you called me beautiful on my first day here." Bellatrix said as sweetly as she possibly could.

The reminder of his attempts at flirting, turned Neville's face and ears bright red. "Oh er… You remember that? Well I erm… I just was passing and thought I'd see how you were feeling." Neville's voice got quieter and quieter with each word spoke until it came out as barely a squeak.

Bellatrix gave the shy boy a genuine smile. "Thank you Neville, that is very sweet. I am feeling much better thank you." Other than that, Bellatrix had no idea what to say. She could barely look at him without her insides feeling like they were being torn apart. It was avoiding meeting his gaze, which drew her attention to the fact he had one hand behind his back. Bellatrix cocked her head to the side and tried to peek around him. "Saaaaay… What have you got there, hidden behind your back?"

"Huh…? Oh! I almost forgot. Here, these are for you." The Gryffindor boy said as he pulled out a bouquet of multi-coloured wildflowers. Instead of thumping hard, her heart froze. Another wave of cold sweat washed over her. '_I… Don't…'_

Bellatrix tried to speak but no words came out, her hands grabbed a hold of the bedding and tightened. She felt powerless, trapped, she felt as if all the air had been sucked out of the room. The moment seemed to drag on forever and it wasn't till Madam Pomfrey spoke, did time seem to flow again. "They are beautiful Neville. I'll put them in some water for Miss Melania." The old matron said, taking them off Neville and wondering off to find a vase.

"Erm yes…" Bellatrix finally said. "Thank you… They are lovely…"

"Oh you're welcome. It's no big deal really. Anyway, I got to go, still need to finish Snape's homework for tomorrow. See you soon Belladonna." Neville said happily, and left looking very pleased with himself after Bellatrix bided him a hasty goodbye.

"I don't want them!" Bellatrix snapped when Pomfrey brought them back to her bedside a few minutes later.

Madam Pomfrey ignored her and placed them on her bedside cabinet regardless. "Don't be so ungrateful. That was a lovely gesture."

Closing her eyes momentarily, Bellatrix took a few seconds to gather her thoughts before she met the nurse's gaze and shook her head. "I know… That's why I don't want them… I don't des-" Bellatrix bit her lip and dropped her gaze slightly. Whether it was the soft tone Bellatrix used, or the look on her face, Pomfrey's face changed, a saddened expression crossed her features.

"Very well. I'll put them on my desk." The woman picked the vase back up, but not before resting a hand on Bellatrix's shoulder, as if to provide comfort before leaving her alone. Madam Pomfrey placed the vase on her desk, before grabbing a few bits and leaving the ward, leaving Bellatrix all alone.

Even with Neville gone and the flowers out of sight, the encounter hung heavy on her mind. Bellatrix kept thinking over what she knew about her other selves past deeds, the deeds she'd grow up to do. It wasn't the first time she thought about them, every night since arriving she had, her future deeds, her demons, haunted her and denied her sleep more often than not. Every day she learnt a little bit more, and every day it added to the images that plagued her, it was because of this she had taken to avoiding the paper, but she still heard snippets around the castle.

_'The _Cruciatus Curse… My future trademark…' __Bellatrix thought bitterly as she laid down and curled up in a fetal position.__ 'So… My life ends up going full circle, I end up becoming my father…' __Screams echoed inside her head, flashes of red appeared before her eyes, a maddening laughter pierced her soul over and over. Bellatrix clamped her hands over her ears, despite knowing that wouldn't stop the noises going round inside her head. "Shut up… Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!" She shouted, getting louder each time.

"Who are you talking to?" A barely audible voice said. Bellatrix froze, not knowing for sure if that had been in her head or not. Dropping her hands away from her ears, Bellatrix slowly looked over to see who had snuck up on her.

"Oh… It's you." Bellatrix spat out at Hermione. "It's none of your business! Don't you know it's rude to eavesdrop?!"

The brunette girl came closer, toying with her hands as she met Bellatrix's gaze. "I didn't mean to, but you were shouting loud enough, I couldn't not hear you." Hermione said calmly. "Anyway, I didn't come here to fight."

Bellatrix rose an eyebrow up at the girl. "Oh? Then why did you come here mudblood? Come to gloat?" She scoffed as she adjusted her body and sat up in bed.

"No! Of course not." Hermione defended as she shook her head, her gaze dropped and seemed to sweep over Bellatrix's body. "How are you feeling?"

"No no no, oh no. No small talk. Answer the question." Bellatrix snapped, glaring daggers at Hermione and getting irritated fast._ 'This foolish girl has some nerve!'_

Hermione looked at her blankly for a second, taking a slight step back before stopping and shaking her head._ 'She's fighting the urge to back down and instead to stand up to me… Brave, stupid… But brave.' _She observed. "Don't order me about! Stop acting like you are so superior, because believe me, you're not."

Bellatrix's eyes widened at the brunettes' remark, her body began to tremble with anger. "You dare…" She whispered. Bellatrix then threw off the duvet and jumped to her feet swiftly, not caring that apart from underwear, she was naked waist down. Catching Hermione off-guard, she grabbed a hold of the muggle-born and pushed her up against the wall. Despite mostly having recovered from her injuries, a dull painful sensation passed through her chest. "I AM SUPERIOR!" Bellatrix screamed in Hermione's face before slowly releasing her, she wasn't stupid enough to attack the girl in broad daylight, not when Pomfrey could come back any minute. Taking a step back, Bellatrix smirked and pointed at Hermione's chest. "Mud." Then pointed at herself. "Pure." Then once more pointed at Hermione, prodding the girl softly as she smiled. "Mud" Bellatrix grinned and leaned in close, close enough that she could feel Hermione's breath against her skin then whispered in Hermione's ear while pointing back at herself. "Pure."

The girl was trembling, with anger or perhaps fear, Bellatrix wasn't sure but nor did she care. She could hear Hermione's heart thumbing away against her chest. A sweet intoxicating aroma surrounded the brunette, one that Bellatrix couldn't help but feel drawn to it. Turning her head slightly, her lips almost brushing against Hermione's skin as she looked her dead in the eye, their noses practically touching._ 'She has unusually beautiful eyes for a mudblood… Heh brown, brown like her muddy blood… Hmm no, brown like chocolate, a chocolate as sweet as her scent.' _Dropping her eyes slightly, Bellatrix stole a peek at the girls' lips and for a moment, was almost tempted to claim them with her own. And perhaps she would have done, if it wasn't for Hermione pushing her away.

Bellatrix laughed and moved away further, her bare feet shuffling against the cold floor, sending a chill that travelled all the way up her naked thighs, which had managed to captivate Hermione's gaze once more._ 'So she does like girls… Or she's curious at least… Ha!' _Amused, Bellatrix began to taunt her. "I was born superior, to nobility, to a vast and powerful legacy. You… Were born inferior, to filth, to nothingness, to a legacy of insignificance!" Bellatrix finished saying in a smug tone of voice, her head held high.

Whatever trance Hermione appeared to have been in, ended with a dark look as she moved forward and pushed Bellatrix out of her way. Hermione stormed half way across the ward before spinning on the spot. "You know nothing about me! You vile twisted bitch! But let's not forget, it was your_ noble _and_ powerful _legacy that sent you here, with only my name as a clue." Hermione gave Bellatrix one last lingering distasteful look before smiling. "You know, I hope that bludger hurt. Was good to see you get knocked off your high horse."

"Well…" Bellatrix began to say. "We can see how much your word is worth, didn't you say you didn't come here to gloat?"

"I didn't come here to, no. But I've changed my mind since arriving." Hermione countered before sighing deeply. "Look, Bellatrix. I just came here to apologize… I didn't mean for things to turn out like this, or for you to get hurt the way you did. I just… Wanted to get my own back and show you up in front of everyone I guess." The brunette shrugged her shoulders before looking away, with a look on her face that Bellatrix could only describe as shame.

_'So that's why she came. The poor little lioness has a guilty conscious. Hmm that could prove advantageous.' _"Well you certainly did that."

"I'm… Sorry, ok?" Hermione said in a sincere tone of voice.

"Hmpf!" Making a noise of disbelief, Bellatrix turned her back on the girl, folding her arms.

"Bellatrix… We have no idea why you are here, how to get you back or how long you'll be staying…" The voice of the girl grew closer till it sounded like she was right behind her, but Bellatrix didn't look around, not until a hand rested on her shoulder. "We will never work it out if we are fighting. It will benefit everyone involved it we worked together to get you back… So, truce?"

Shrugging off Hermione's hand, Bellatrix took a few steps and seemed to ponder to herself. "Well what you did was cunning I'll give you that, impressively so. For a Gryffindor. It seems, some lions do have claws." Bellatrix threw a quick grin over her shoulder, before forcing herself to look serious. "But you're right, I won't get back to my time if my attention is divided… Ok mu… Hermione. You've got yourself a deal, a clean slate."

"Really?" The muggle-born replied, not masking her surprised tone.

Frowning, Bellatrix snapped at Hermione. "I said so didn't I?"

"Ok." Hermione smiled and looked around the empty ward for a few seconds. "So… How are you?"

_'How cute, back to the small talk.' _Yawning to herself, Bellatrix shrugged. "Tired. You caught me as I was trying to sleep."

For a split second, Hermione looked disappointed, as if she knew she was being hinted at to leave. "Oh. Sorry. I'll let you sleep. Are you back in the dorm later?" She asked with a smile, to which Bellatrix merely nodded. "Well I'll see you then, then."

Bellatrix smiled slightly at Hermione. "You will and… Thank you. For coming, and apologising."

A blush crept up on Hermione's face, smiling and nodding, the Gryffindor girl turned away and left the hospital wing. "Well…" Bellatrix muttered to herself as she watched Hermione disappear down the corridor. "That was too easy."

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><p>Rain was hammering against the dormitory windows as Bellatrix laid on her bed, unable to sleep. The remainder of the day had passed without much incident, Madam Pomfrey had allowed her to leave not long after returning, and Bellatrix had spent most of the afternoon either reading in a quiet corner of the library or studying. By the time she was done, dinner time had nearly finished. Much to her pleasure, the great hall had been mostly empty and she was able to eat dinner in peace without being harassed by her fellow housemates.<p>

It was the same story by the time she got back to the common room, most of the students had already gone to bed or were quietly studying. Bellatrix did however spot Hermione by the fireplace with both the boys, while she made no effort to approach them, she did exchange smiles with Hermione when their gazes met. She had planned on doing a bit more work, but that was before being cornered and having her ears tortured by Ginny. After nearly an hour of mindless prattle, Bellatrix had excused herself, claiming to be tired.

Even when the other girls turned up earlier on, Bellatrix had pretended to be asleep, not wanting to get drawn into anymore pointless conversations. Fortunately they didn't try to bother her, nor did they stay up chatting and half an hour later, they were all fast asleep, including Hermione.

Shifting in her bed, Bellatrix looked over at the sleeping muggle-born._ 'Poor little Hermione, you look so peaceful sleeping there, so… Defenceless, let's see how you like it.' _Smirking to herself, Bellatrix slid quietly out of her bed. Picking up her wand, she crept over to Hermione's bed and leant over her. "Hey." Bellatrix whispered. "You awake?" She asked and waited for a reply, but it never came. "Good." After quickly looking to see what the other girls were doing, Bellatrix leant in ever closer and whispered in Hermione's ear. "So… You wanted to play dirty did you? Sought to show me up? Foolish lion, did you really think I'd let you off so easy? A truce? Ha!" Lifting up her wand she aimed it directly at Hermione. "I don't need your help getting back, despite what you, Morgana or anyone thinks. And even if I did… I would never accept it off a filthy mudblood. Now… Time to teach you respect for your superiors. Let this serve as a reminder to what happens to those who cross the House of Black." And with her final venomous words whispered in Hermione's ear, Bellatrix exacted her revenge.

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><p>The next morning, Bellatrix was awake and up before everyone else, she wasted no time getting ready and after peeking a glance at Hermione, left the dormitory with a spring in her step. By the time she had got downstairs and reached the common room, the unmistakeable sound of a girl screaming rang from upstairs. Smirking to herself, Bellatrix walked past the other early risers who were looking around confused then continued on her way.<p>

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><p><strong>AN: **I hope you all enjoyed chapter 7 :) I definitely enjoyed showing new sides to Bellatrix. If you have any questions, feel free to pm me or leave them in reviews and I'll answer them next time round. The next update won't be quite so quick :) but I'll do my best! And remember, each review gives Bellatrix and Hermione warm fuzzies ;)


	8. Chapter 8: Logic versus Passion

**A/N:** Real life has been kind so I was able to update this sooner than expected :) Don't hate me for this chapter! :P Some reviews have been addressed at the after the second A/N. If you like it, then please review and let me know.

I currently have no beta so all mistakes are my own and I apologise for any I missed.

**Disclaimer:** The world of Harry Potter and the original storyline are not mine; they belong to J.K. Rowling.

Read, review and most of all… Enjoy!

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><p><strong>Chapter 8: Logic versus Passion<strong>

**Hermione**

Hermione's hand was clenched firmly over her mouth, her scream was not only still ringing in her ears, but it also had dashed the faintest of hopes that this was all a nightmare. She stood staring at her reflection in a mirror on the dresser by her bed, tears were silently streaming down her face. The other girls looked just as shell shocked as she was, they stood around looking stunned, not knowing what to do and muttering minor words of comfort, even Lavender.

But Hermione didn't listen to them, she was far too mesmerized by her reflection to take heed of anyone else. Her gaze kept switching between the pillow on her bed and the mirror. Before then leaning in closer to get a better look. Hermione's hand slowly came, deep inside she harboured another hope, that what she was seeing was an illusion. But as her hand lightly brushed over her head, that hope was also snuffed out. Fresh tears stung at her eyes as her fingers brushed against her bald head. Not a trace of her unruly brunette hair remained, every single strand was instead forming an outline on her pillow where her head had rested in the night.

'_How… How did this happen…?'_ Wiping the tears away roughly with the back of her hand, she looked over to the empty bed next to hers, Bellatrix's bed. _'Of course! She has to be the cause! That… That spiteful pureblood bitch! That evil, conniving cow!' _Fresh tears continued to flow down her cheeks, only this time, they were tears of fury, at both Bellatrix and herself. _'I should have known better! How could I be so naïve! A truce?! All that did was paint a target on my back!' _

After the Quidditch incident, Hermione had been racked with guilt over what she had done. She had felt no satisfaction, no joy, no sense of triumph, only disgust at herself for stooping so low. Her ill feelings only deepened throughout the day as wherever she went, she heard people talking about the accident. Each overheard comment of best wishes just twisted the knife in deeper and by the end of the day, Hermione was so consumed by remorse and shame that she couldn't sleep.

'_This is what I get… For having a conscience…' _Hermione thought bitterly as her hand slowly came down from her head. _'Well no more! Bellatrix Black, Bellatrix Lestrange, they are one and the same… And she will pay! Right now!'_ Wiping the tears away once more, Hermione chucked on her uniform as fast as humanly possible, still ignoring the other girls and barely paying attention when one mentioned going to fetch a Professor.

After finishing getting dressed, Hermione grabbed her wand with a fiery determination. Purposely leaving her bag and school supplies behind, Hermione stormed out of the room, wand in hand, she ran down the stairs, ignoring the gasps and comments as she passed students. Hermione knew how she must have looked, but right now she couldn't care less about how they saw her, now was not the time for vanity, now was the time for action. Both Harry and Ron were already in the common room when Hermione arrived, and the whole room went dead silent the second she set foot in it, a few first and second year students sniggered slightly, only to be silenced by their older housemates.

"Bloody hell…" Ron muttered, looking gobsmacked and moving towards her.

"Hermione? What happened?!" Harry asked cautiously, not failing to notice the wand held tight in her hand.

"Where is she?!" Hermione snapped with a tone of intense anger, matched only by the dangerous look in her eyes. "Where is that bitch Bella?!"

Both Ron and Harry's facial expressions changed to one of hate, now that they knew who was behind whatever had happened to her. When neither of them could give her an answer, a boy from across the room spoke up. "Do you mean that new girl? Belladonna? She left like five minutes ago." He said, flinching slightly from the look Hermione gave him.

Without a word, Hermione left the common room and continued running down the stairs, jumping down the last few steps on each case in the hopes of catching Bellatrix up. The boys followed close behind, they kept asking her to slow down and to wait, but Hermione was determined to catch Bellatrix up. Turning off at the third floor, Hermione took the corridor Bellatrix usually took, hoping that the pureblood hadn't decided to change her route today.

As Hermione approached a corner, two familiar voices caught her ear. One belonged to Ginny, and the other… By the sounds of it, a smug and cheerful Bellatrix. Clenching her fist tighter around her wand, Hermione sharply rounded the corner to see Ginny and _Belladonna_ standing midway down the corridor, casually chatting.

"YOU!" Hermione shouted as she stormed closer. Both of the girl's turned their heads, as did other students who hadn't already noticed Hermione and her new appearance. Ginny's mouth dropped wide open when she caught sight, while Bellatrix briefly smirked before pretending to also look shocked.

"Oh my… Hermione?! What happened?" Ginny asked.

"Ginny get away from her!" Ron shouted angrily from not far behind Hermione.

"Are you ok?" Bellatrix asked softly, though Hermione was sure she detected a hint of amusement in her tone. Ginny looked confused, her eyes darted back and forth between the boys, Hermione and _Belladonna._

Overcome by hate and anger, and spurred on by Bellatrix's subtle mockery disguised as false concern. Hermione raised her wand without warning and flicked her wrist in a violent motion. _'__Fraglans Aculeus' _Hermione casted, sending a fiery orange light at the dark haired girl. Her Scorching Sting Hex caught Bellatrix completely off-guard and hit her across the side of her face. The pureblood gasped and recoiled in pain, her hand came up to comfort her cheek, Bellatrix hissed in pain with a look of shock on her face, which Hermione couldn't tell if it was genuine or for show. Not that she cared either way.

"Hermione what the hell!" Ginny shouted, taking a step towards Bellatrix while ignoring her brother's demand for her to move away. Before Ginny could intervene and before Bellatrix could recover, Hermione swished her wand once more. This time her new spell sent Bellatrix flying back a few meters before landing hard on the stony floor.

"I can't believe I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt! Well not anymore! If it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you'll get!" Hermione shouted at the pureblood as she laid on the ground, ignoring the murmurs from the other students.

Bellatrix sat up on the floor and slowly got to her feet, the right side of her face was burnt from Hermione's hex. Bellatrix looked livid, if looks could kill, Hermione was sure she would have just dropped dead, but then to Hermione's surprise, the pureblood smiled. "That's the smartest thing I've heard you say." Bellatrix jeered as she threw her head back and laughed. "Show me what you really got muddy!" And with that challenge, Bellatrix whipped out her wand and immediately sent a spell back at Hermione before she could disarm her. Instead Hermione deflected it away, smashing a suit of armour in the process. The fight was on.

A still confused Ginny and the other students who had been in the corridor at the time, cleared out of the way for fear of being hit. Ron and Harry started to flank Hermione, getting out their wands to assist her. "Aww can poor little Hermione not stand alone? Shame." Bellatrix mocked, as she looked at the boys joining her side.

"No guys, this is my fight." Hermione said over her shoulder.

"But Hermione…" Harry began to say.

"No Harry! This is between me and her." She snapped back at the chosen one. Harry stared at her for a moment, his eyes were filled with a familiar hate, a hate born from Bellatrix killing Sirius, '_She killed Sirius!'_ his eyes seemed to shout at her. But eventually he nodded and stepped back, lowering his wand with Ron following suit shortly after.

"You sure this is a good idea Hermione? What if you get caught?" Ron asked, but Hermione didn't answer, instead she took a step forward, it was too late to turn back now, she had to see it through to the end.

"Such a brave lion." Bellatrix said with a grin before raising her wand and adopting a duelling stance.

'_Ok Hermione, this is it. If I lose, people will carry on taking advantage of me, and walking all over me…' _Hermione thought as she too took a duelling stance._ 'If I win though… Bellatrix will probably never rest trying to get me back. If that's the case, then so be it.'_ Thinking back to all her books and lessons, about all the references to a successful duellist needing a calm state of mind. Hermione tried to push her anger for the pureblood aside and concentrate on the duel.

For a moment neither of them acted, each of them were sizing each other up and all the while, the crowd grew. _'I attacked first before, may as well again now.'_ Flicking her wrist, Hermione quickly casted her next non-verbal spell. '_Expelliarmus!'_ A bolt of red light shot out down the corridor at Bellatrix, who merely deflected it at a nearby painting, whose occupants shouted out cries of protest. Grinning at Hermione, Bellatrix sent two spells straight back, a pair of purple lights weaved around each other before smashing harmlessly against her shield.

'_Densaugeo! Everte Statum!' _Hermione sent a pair of spells of her own at Bellatrix, only to hastily throw up a shield as a blue light shot passed between them. Just like before, the spell bounced harmlessly of her shield, as did the next, and the one after that. Just like their previous duel, Bellatrix was unrelenting, her body twist and turned elegantly with each spell she fired and blocked. Hermione's professors had always said duelling was an art, but Bellatrix took it a step further, she duelled as if it were a dance, a dance with death. '_And I am her partner.'_ Hermione thought with a frown as she observed for a weakness in Bellatrix's defences.

'_Expulso!' _The corridor was lit up with a variety of colours as Hermione and Bellatrix exchanged spell after spell. Blues and reds, purples and yellows, continued to erupt from their wands and smash against each other's shields and their surroundings. Hermione could see how their duelling tactics differed; hers was safe, methodical and text book, her techniques and approach all derived from what she had read or what she had been shown in class. Whereas Bellatrix… Hermione could see the passion in her eyes and in the way she moved, her choice of curses and counters made no sense, it was all so… Incoherent. It shouldn't have worked, and yet it did. Bellatrix seemed to just go with the flow, like an artist spurred on by inspiration, or a dancer feeling the beat of the music and moving in rhythm to it.

'_Head versus heart, logic versus passion.'_ Concluded Hermione as she blocked another spell. '_Now that I see and understand that, how do I beat her?'_ She asked herself angrily, nothing would give her greater pleasure then besting Bellatrix. _'I can't lose to her after all she's done!' _Feeling herself starting to lose her cool and her anger building up again, Hermione sent three powerful spells back to back right at her tormentor. All of which Bellatrix managed to block, but this time, not as elegantly, in fact if anything, Hermione was sure Bellatrix had almost faltered under that barrage. Repeating her action, Hermione watched as Bellatrix was forced back a couple of steps and for a split second, a look of apprehension flickered on the pureblood's face.

But before Hermione could work out why she suddenly had Bellatrix on the defensive, or if Bellatrix was just bluffing in an attempt to lead her to a false sense of security. A loud masculine voice boomed throughout the corridor. "_Expelliarmus!" _

The spell sent both Hermione's and Bellatrix's wands flying down the corridor. Tearing her gaze away from Bellatrix, Hermione looked behind the pureblood to see the approaching dark figure of Professor Snape, pushing his way through the students, wand in hand. "Well well well… What have we here?" The dark haired professor said slowly in a cold tone of voice, his dark eyes surveying over both Hermione and Bellatrix, who had turned to see who had intervened.

Hermione could feel his eyes lingering on her and watched as his mouth turned into a sneer. "New haircut Granger?" Hermione bit her lip and dropped her gaze, ignoring the quiet comment from Ron in the background, which sounded vaguely like '_Greasy haired git.'_ "Two… _Gryffindors_ fighting… And here I thought it would be a bad morning. Follow me, now!" With a sharp gesture of his hand, he beckoned for her and Bellatrix to follow. Looking round, Hermione gave her friends one last look, both of whom mouthed words of support to her, before she slowly began following a very pleased looking Professor Snape.

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><p>The walk to Professor McGonagall's office seemed to take a lot longer than usual. Everyone seemed to stop what they were doing and stare at both herself and Bellatrix, as they were escorted by the intimating Head of Slytherin. Hermione wondered what was going through their minds seeing her with no hair and Bellatrix with a half burnt face, clearly some students found the sight amusing especially the Slytherins they had passed. It took so long to reach their destination that Hermione was sure Snape had deliberately paraded them through the school for all to see, and by the time they did reach McGonagall's office, Hermione had grown very self-conscious about her appearance.<p>

Snape stopped dead by the door then gestured for them both to wait outside by the wall. "Wait here, and don't even think about making a peep." He sneered before then knocking hard on the office door and entering the room without waiting for an answer.

"Do come in why don't you Severus. What can I do for you, I was just about to go down for breakfast." McGonagall's voice drifted through the open door. Hermione stood and waited anxiously, twiddling her fingers. _'She's going to be so disappointed in me…'_

"Breakfast may have to wait Minerva. I have something for you." Hermione heard Snape say in a smug tone of voice. "In here, now." He commanded coldly from the room. Bellatrix, who hadn't looked at her once since Snape intervened, turned her head to regard her, before she rolled her eyes and entered the office. Taking a deep breath, Hermione followed suit.

McGonagall's office was spacious and well lit by a multitude of candles, a large chandelier and two windows. One large one was directly at the back of the room and a smaller one on the left wall in the corner. Red and yellow décor populated the walls and surfaces, Gryffindor banners hung from the wall in between portraits of various famous Gryffindor pupils. Bookcases packed with books and parchment lined most off left wall, save for a desk under the smaller window that looked out onto the courtyard. The right wall however had a large fireplace with a small table and two maroon seats by it, a trophy cabinet could also be found taking up most of the space on one side of the fireplace. On the other side of the fireplace was a large portrait, which Hermione knew concealed the entrance to McGonagall's own private quarters.

And in the middle of that all, sitting at a large desk filled with an assortment of supplies and instruments, was Professor McGonagall, whom was looking very strictly at the pair of them. Her eyes flickered over the pair of them but she didn't say a word, instead she looked at Professor Snape. "Could you please Severus?" She asked, gesturing to the door. Without acknowledging his colleague, Snape turned to lock the door, before casting an enchantment on it. "Now, what in Merlin's name is going on here?"

Before either of them could answer, Professor Snape chimed in. "I found both Miss Granger and Miss Black here, duelling on the third floor corridor." The greasy haired Professor paused and looked straight at Hermione before smirking. "Apparently, according to some trustworthy students. Miss Granger attacked Miss Black unprovoked."

"Thank you Severus." McGonagall said with forced politeness before turning to look straight at Hermione, who silently gulped hard. "Is this true Miss Granger?"

Hermione was just about to answer the elderly witch when Snape once again interrupted. "I will be, by the way, deducting 100 points from Gryffindor for the blatant disregard for rules."

Gritting her teeth, McGonagall looked back at Snape. "Very well." She stated flatly.

"Each." Snape added with a slight smirk.

"Yes, thank you Severus." The Head of Gryffindor glared hard at Snape before returning to look at her. "Well Miss Granger?"

Not being able to look at her elder in the eye, Hermione looked at down at her hands and nodded. "Yes Professor." Hermione muttered then forced herself to look back at her Professor.

The look on McGonagall's face spoke volumes, she didn't even look angry in Hermione's eyes, which just made her feel worse. "I am very disappointed in you Hermione, I expected much better from you. Especially being one of my prefects. You are meant to be setting an example for the rest of the school, not breaking rules in plain sight!" McGonagall said in a cold hard tone, the disappointment in her voice was crystal clear. Hermione had no answer to that, never in her life had she felt so ashamed and embarrassed. _'This is all Bellatrix's fault!'_ Hermione thought bitterly for a second, before sighing deeply. _'No… It's both our faults… I should have known better, I shouldn't have been so naïve and I definitely shouldn't have taken her bait…'_

The frown across McGonagall's brow deepened, she gave Hermione one last disappointed look before looking at Bellatrix. "Although, I find it hard to believe Miss Granger wasn't provoked, Miss Black. Does Hermione's sudden hair loss have something to do with you?"

"No Professor. I was talking to a… _Friend._ When Hermione attacked me out of nowhere." Bellatrix said casually without a care in the world.

Hermione's head snapped in Bellatrix's direction and glared at her. "You lying cow! You did this while I slept!" She shouted, pointing at her head while taking a small step forwards Bellatrix.

Folding her arms, Bellatrix smirked and leant in close to Hermione. "Prove it mudblood." The dark haired girl said in a strangely seductive and smug tone of voice.

"I… I can't! But we both know it was you!" Hermione said hesitantly, Bellatrix's remark and tone had thrown her slightly. _'She's… Right… I have no proof… What if I got it wrong?'_

Bellatrix's smile grew wider, she turned her head and held her hand up to her ear. "I'm sorry what was that? I didn't _hair_ you." She said with a giggle.

Hermione's face went bright red with sheer embarrassment, '_She's making a fool of me, even now!' _Moving a few more steps towards Bellatrix, Hermione lashed out and pushed Bellatrix. "Enough!" McGonagall shouted loudly over Bellatrix's giggling, Snape grabbed a hold of Hermione's shoulder roughly and pulled her away. "You are acting like a pair of first years!" The elderly witch said, her stern gaze kept alternating between the two girls before settling on the amused Bellatrix. "Severus, would you kindly fetch me a vial of Veritaserum. We shall soon see if Miss Black is telling the truth or not." Snape nodded yet didn't move, his eyes fixed clearly on the pureblood girl.

The laughing stopped immediately. "What?! You can't use that on me! Using it on a student is forbidden!" Bellatrix snapped at McGonagall.

"Usually yes. However you are not officially a student, there is no record of you, you don't truly exist." Professor McGonagall said calmly, her gaze catching Hermione's briefly and Hermione was positive she saw the faintest of smiles.

"If you use it on me I'll tell everyone the truth!" Bellatrix threatened as she continued to protest loudly, however, the uncertainty in her voice was becoming increasingly clear.

A deafening silence filled the room. Hermione look between both the pureblood and her Head of House, the two were glaring intensely at each other. Bellatrix may have been vague with her threat, but everyone present knew exactly what Bellatrix was threatening to reveal. "Go ahead Miss Black. There's the door, tell people now. I'm sure plenty of people would love to have words with you if they knew the truth, on both sides. I'm afraid we wouldn't be able to protect you from them all." McGonagall said after a long pause then pointed towards the door. "Your choice."

Hermione forced herself not to look shocked or surprised at her Professor's statement. _'Is she calling her bluff? But what if Bellatrix isn't bluffing?' _Hermione suddenly felt very concerned. The events that were unfolding were all her doing, if she had just let Bellatrix walk all over her, then Professor McGonagall wouldn't be in this predicament. Being pushed around by Bellatrix was nothing compared to the trouble of her identity coming out would cause, Hermione believed. '_There are good reasons why Dumbledore went through the trouble of concealing her...'_ Hermione watched Bellatrix closely out of the corner of her eye, she could see how the pureblood was seriously considering it. One thing that Hermione had learnt about Bellatrix in her short time here was, she was no coward, and she wouldn't be deterred by the idea of trouble. In fact she most likely would welcome it.

Finally, Bellatrix answered. "Fine!"

A chill shot down Hermione's spine, by the sounds of it, McGonagall's attempt at calling Bellatrix's bluff had failed. Yet Bellatrix's lack of movement implied otherwise. "Fine what?" McGonagall asked coldly.

"I did it, I cursed the mudblood's hair to fall out." The dark haired girl finally admitted, crossing her arms once more and pouting. '_I guess she was bluffing after all.'_ Hermione thought and let out a small sigh of relief.

"There, now that wasn't hard was it Miss Black." She replied with a slight smile which disguised the relief on her face.

The pureblood scowled and pointed directly at Hermione. "I did it to get her back! For putting me in the hospital wing all weekend!"

The smile on her Professor's face quickly vanished at Bellatrix's accusation. "Miss Granger? Is that true?" She asked Hermione, unable to hide her astonishment.

"Only because she attacked me first! Then there was that incident in potions!" Hermione defended, despite knowing how petty she probably looked right about now.

"Why you ungrateful little…" Bellatrix growled out in a low tone, her fists clenched and this time, it was her to advance on Hermione. Only to be stopped and held back at arm's length by Snape. "That was an accident! Have you forgotten how I helped you?!" The dark haired girl shouted over Snape's arm.

"Merlin's beard!" McGonagall exclaimed, resting a hand on her forehead, the Professor shook her head and sighed. "I think we are all going to need to long chat, starting tonight. Detention here tonight at 8 and every night until I decide otherwise. I'll be sure to have a words with Dumbledore about your future here Miss Black if this is how you are going to behave!" Professor McGonagall paused for a second and let her remark sink in before taking a deep breath and continuing. "We have granted you asylum here Miss Black until you can return, but if you are going to start acting like you used too…"

The message was clear Hermione thought, if Bellatrix wouldn't play by the rules here then they would find somewhere else for her to go, somewhere where she would be monitored closely and kept secure. Bellatrix must have understood the underlining meaning also as her face had grown dark and her jawline tight. "People may get… Suspicious, about this morning's events." Snape began to add, cutting through the thick tension that had descended upon the room. "An adequate cover story will be needed. Perhaps we should let it circulate that Miss Granger attacked Miss _Melania _out of jealousy or perhaps Miss Granger borrowed one of her hair products, it went wrong and she took it out on her."

'_What?!' _Hermione mouth dropped open and found herself having to resist the urge to spin around and argue with Professor Snape, she was already in enough trouble and she didn't want to give him the satisfaction. "No." Professor McGonagall replied sharply, frowning at her colleague. "I am not having Miss Granger's name besmirched just to cover up for Miss Black." Once again the deputy's gaze found Bellatrix's. "This is not the 1960s anymore, the Black Family name doesn't carry the same weight it used to and you are definitely not above the repercussions Bellatrix, not anymore." Hermione had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself smiling at McGonagall's little dig, instead she forced herself to keep a straight face and listen to what was being said. "No, if people ask, you will both tell them the truth. That you, Miss _Melania_ attacked Miss Granger in her sleep and that Miss Granger hit back."

Hermione gave the pureblood one quick look while her attention was fixed firmly on McGonagall. Bellatrix was shaking, with what Hermione undoubtedly believed was anger, her face had gone bright red, her lip was trembling and her dark orbs seemed to burn with hate. _'I bet this is the first time she's ever truly been told off, without having power and influence on her side.'_ A sense of triumph and satisfaction filled her deep inside upon seeing Bellatrix knocked down a few levels, she was no longer as high and mighty as she believed, at least not in this time period. "Oh? And what am I meant to say if people ask why I did it?!" Bellatrix asked through gritted teeth.

"Perhaps you should have thought about that first. Anyway I was under the impression you never needed a reason to torment and attack your peers. I'm sure you can think of something." Ignoring the latest dark look Bellatrix was giving her, McGonagall's gaze shifted to her colleague. "Severus will you take Miss Black to the hospital wing, get that burn checked out. I'll follow soon with Miss Granger."

Professor Snape nodded and grabbed Bellatrix's shoulder, who quickly shrugged him off. Without another word, and after giving Hermione one last hateful look, Bellatrix stormed out of the room with Snape following. Shaking her head, McGonagall got to her feet and shut her office door, recasting the charms before turning to face Hermione. "Right Miss Granger, I want to know everything that has happened. And don't miss a detail."

"Yes Professor." Hermione replied as her Professor guided her over to the seats by the fireplace.

After taking a seat, Professor McGonagall conjured up a pot of tea and two cups then proceeded to pour the hot beverage. Thanking the older witch, Hermione had a quick sip to quench her dry throat before she started from the very beginning. She recounted the first initial attack in the dormitory on the night Bellatrix arrived, her snide remarks both then and after their duel in their Defence Against the Dark Arts class. Her feelings and her observations, their conversation in the Hospital Wing, she told McGonagall every last bit, right up to the point Professor Snape had found them. Hearing herself say it all out loud, did make Hermione wonder who was more in the wrong. While Bellatrix did attack her first and say some cruel things, Hermione had retaliated by unintentionally putting her in the Hospital Wing… When she looked at it like that, Bellatrix's actions and words seemed almost trivial. Perhaps it was no wonder Bellatrix hadn't gone along with the truce, they were far from even. Were they even now?

After Hermione finished talking, McGonagall sat back in the chair shaking her head. "I see. It was foolish of you to believe you could handle Miss Black, Hermione, I expected you would have more sense than that." Her Professor said softly, the disappointment in her tone once again became clear. "We should have kept a closer eye on her, but we trusted you to come forward the moment she stepped a toe out of line."

Feeling ashamed for a second time, Hermione looked down at the cup in her hands as she fidgeted. "I know Professor… I just… I don't know, I didn't want her thinking all muggleborns were an easy target. I guess part of me wanted to prove myself to her, that despite being a muggleborn, I'm just as smart and gifted as her, and that maybe she would see that and… Not treat me as an equal, but respect me enough to be civil… I don't know, I'm not sure what came over me." Shaking her head, she forced herself to meet her Head of House's gaze, she owed her that much at least. "I was always taught that most bullies are cowards… If you stand up to them, they soon back away… But Bellatrix…"

"Hermione, you have nothing to prove to the likes of her." McGonagall said in a sympathetic tone, no longer did her tone carry her disappointment. "I do sympathise with you Hermione. Don't forget, I was her Professor for seven years, I know all too well what Miss Black is like and how she get under your skin and more importantly, how she can get into your head." Her Professor looked away as she spoke and stared off into the distance, as if she was looking back. "She is no mere bully, many fine students fell victim to her while she attended Hogwarts, even if we could rarely prove it was her behind it." Exhaling deeply, her Professor put her cup down and stood up. "Come, we best get you to the Hospital Wing."

Nodding, Hermione finished her drink and stood up, but she wasn't ready to go just yet, there was a something she was curious about. "Professor? Was she always this way?" Hermione asked as they moved towards the door.

"Yes, but far worse. Before she had the power of the Black family name behind her, it made her almost untouchable." McGonagall came to stop by the door, her hand resting on the handle. "She doesn't have that advantage now but that doesn't make her any less dangerous, she'll be even more unpredictable then ever… A word of advice Miss Granger, don't stoop to Miss Black's level. Nothing will give her greater pleasure than to have reason to make your life hell." And with the warning, her Professor opened her office door and began leading her to the Hospital Wing.

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><p><strong>AN: **I hope you all enjoyed chapter 8 :). If you have any questions, feel free to pm me or leave them in reviews and I'll answer them next time round. I'll update soon as I can. And remember, each review gives Bellatrix and Hermione warm fuzzies ;)

**Artemis Noir****: **I certainly have no plans on making Hermione that way :)

**Ladyfun: **Yes poor Hermione :P though she did kick back this time. Hermione has always been one to try see the good in others and give them the benefit of the doubt, she did so with Snape for years, and Draco at times. Which does make her naïve at times.

**Mnmpowers: **Thanks you :) I've always seen Bellatrix Black and Bellatrix Lestrange as different people, it's always fun writing about how one becomes the other. Oh don't worry about that, there will be no rushing in that department, will come when it's good and ready. Although lust and temptation may come before the touchy feeling stuff ;)


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